WhatsApp Privacy Case Must Be Decided in a Month, EU Watchdog Says

WhatsApp is being investigated to see if it complies with transparency obligations specified by EU privacy rules known as GDPR.

By Reuters | Updated: 29 July 2021 11:40 IST

WhatsApp Privacy Case Must Be Decided in a Month, EU Watchdog Says

WhatsApp claimed new policy did not affect user's privacy as personal messages continued to be protected

Highlights

The agency sought feedback from its peers in December
The other national watchdogs objected to the type of infringements
The Irish agency said it would not follow the objections

EU privacy watchdog EDPB on Wednesday gave the Irish data protection agency a month to issue a long-delayed decision on compliance by Facebook's WhatsApp after its peers objected to its draft finding.

The agency, which leads oversight of Facebook because the company's European headquarters are based in Ireland, has been investigating WhatsApp to see if it complies with transparency obligations specified by EU privacy rules known as GDPR.

It sought feedback from its peers in December but was unable to find a consensus regarding its draft decision.

Samsung Wins Patent for a Tri-Fold Smartphone With Specialised Barrier Layer for Improved Durability

The other national watchdogs objected to the type of infringements identified by the Irish, whether the specific data in question was personal data and the appropriateness of the proposed sanctions.

The Irish agency said it would not follow the objections and referred them to the EDPB, which on Wednesday adopted a decision addressing the merits of the disagreements but did not provide details.

"The IE SA shall adopt its final decision, addressed to the controller, on the basis of the EDPB decision, without undue delay and at the latest one month after the EDPB has notified its decision," the EU watchdog, which acts as a referee in disputes among the national agencies, said.

WhatsApp, Security and Spyware: What Happened

The other national enforcers have long criticised their Irish peer for taking too long to wrap up its investigations and the size of proposed fines.

The recently-concluded first season of Loki is our focus this week on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.