As we know, Europe tries its best to protect your data and for this reason GAFAM is always in focus.
Europe wants to protect the data of its citizens from the sometimes unscrupulous methods of GAFAM or even the smallest companies. For example, we remember Discord, which was recently sanctioned by France. In this context, the meta-group behind Facebook or WhatsApp has come under European crosshairs via the Irish regulator, as the company’s international headquarters are based in Dublin.
Europe stares at WhatsApp
The data protection officer (equivalent to the CNIL in France) considers that WhatsApp is therefore guilty of violating the privacy of its users. In particular, the company needs to re-evaluate the way it uses its users’ personal data for the purpose of improving the service. For this reason, the company is ordered to pay 5.5 million dollars.
Malin, the WhatsApp spokeswoman, has already announced that the company will appeal this decision to avoid having to pay the sum. In September 2021, WhatsApp had already appealed a fine of $225 million (much higher) following a GDPR investigation.
As the newspaper explains Reuters, the Irish regulator has already fined Meta 1.3 billion dollars if we summarize the entire questioning of the multinational’s practices. A huge number, especially when you know that Meta lost a lot of money to the Metaverse, which is a real R&D money pit. Whether anything will be done to protect European users’ data a little more remains to be seen.
What do you think of the fine imposed on WhatsApp today? Concerned about the privacy policies of these types of messaging services? And in general do you think your data is safe?