News
WhatsApp has been fined €225m (£193m) by Ireland’s data watchdog for breaching privacy regulations
September 2021 by Ilia Kolochenko, Founder of ImmuniWeb
It is the largest fine ever from the Irish Data Protection Commission, and the second-highest under EU GDPR rules.
More on the story here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-58422465
The comment from Ilia Kolochenko, Founder of ImmuniWeb, and a member of Europol Data Protection Experts Network (bio below):
“The fine will undoubtedly be appealed by Facebook and will likely be significantly reduced in court as we already witnessed with other major cases. The judicial process to get a final and enforceable decision will likely take several years. It’s very unlikely any Europeans, whose privacy rights were allegedly violated by WhatsApp, will get any compensation.
"Many privacy experts argue that GDPR does not serve its initial purpose of being a consistent pan-European privacy legislation capable of protecting personal data and deter privacy violations. Given the growing disagreement between European DPAs on GDPR enforcement priorities and imposition of penalties, these concerns become even more real today. Moreover, data subjects are reluctant to enforce their rights under GDPR as it’s always time-consuming and may require a complex and costly process to litigate for penny compensation if any.
"GDPR is a comprehensive, balanced and well-thought law - but its enforcement needs an overhaul, otherwise, impunity for GDPR violations will become a norm.”
