Personal data: Europe gives WhatsApp one month to comply
The European Commission and the European authorities responsible for consumer protection intensify their investigation against WhatsApp, giving it a month to prove the app did not breach EU consumer protection rules.
The investigation began with a complaint filed by the European Consumers’ Organization (BEUC) and eight of its members in July 2021 under a recently established mechanism called the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network. . Consumer groups have accused WhatsApp of unfairly pressuring its users to accept its new privacy policy and terms and conditions by bombarding them with a persistent pop-up consent that failed to adequately explain the implications. terms of processing personal data.
The European Commission took up the complaint, and in January WhatsApp received an official letter asking it to clarify how the app’s new privacy policy complied with EU consumer protection law and exchanges of personal data with Meta, the parent company.
This letter marked the start of a regulatory dialogue that lasted until the end of February, during which European and national authorities could ask WhatsApp for details on how it informed consumers of policy changes. . However, the dialogue failed to close the case, as the Commission and consumer watchdogs sent a new letter to WhatsApp on June 8, asking the company to clarify the outstanding issues.
Specifically, the messaging app is asked to show how it intends to communicate future updates to its terms of service within a month. Consumer law requires that users are informed of the implications of these updates and can freely choose whether they still want to use the application. “WhatsApp must ensure that users understand what they are agreeing to and how their personal data is used for business purposes, including to provide services to business partners”said Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders. “I repeat that I expect WhatsApp to fully comply with EU rules which protect consumers and their fundamental rights”he added.
