One of the first controversies of the year 2021 was the announcement by WhatsApp of its new privacy policies, according to which the messaging app would begin to share your users’ data with its parent, Facebook.
The controversy has been such that WhatsApp has been forced to delay the entry into force of these changes in its policies. Initially, the legal change was expected to be implemented in mid-February. Finally, WhatsApp will begin to share information about its users with Facebook from mid-May. Many experts already recommend using other apps like Signal.
Although these changes in the privacy policy of WhatsApp does not affect the countries of the European Union, TechCrunch has advanced how the continent’s data protection agencies are already immersed in an investigation against the technology firm.
These control bodies, within which the Spanish Agency for Data Protection (AEPD) is framed, have begun their investigations after the Irish Data Protection Commission – DPC, for its acronym in English – has issued an eraser with a motion for a resolution.
The investigation that Europe opens against WhatsApp and its exchange of user data with Facebook comes from afar And it doesn’t have much to do with the controversial change in their privacy policies. The facts analyzed go back to 2018, year in which the current General Data Protection Regulation (RGPD) of the European Union came into force.
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TechCrunch It details that the Irish DPC confirmed last Saturday that it had already sent a draft resolution to its counterparts in the rest of the European countries. In reality, this draft would have been sent on December 24, and it is the second resolution proposal that the Irish regulatory body sends to the rest of the national agencies to investigate a case that transcends its national borders.
The first, as you remember TechCrunch, had to do with an investigation into Twitter due to a security breach: the social network was fined, in this case, with $ 450,000. This was highlighted by media such as The Verge.
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“As you know, the DPC has conducted since 2018 an investigation into WhatsApp Ireland’s compliance with articles 12 to 14 of the RGPD in terms of transparency, including the transparency of the information you share with Facebook“, the Irish organization itself details in a statement.” The DPC has provisionally concluded this investigation and has sent a draft resolution to the rest of the European organizations, on which we hope to receive their comments. “
“When this process is completed and a final decision is made, it will be possible to clarify what is the transparency standard that WhatsApp will have to adhere to in Europe”, highlights the Irish DPC in its statement, which includes TechCrunch.
A spokesperson for the messaging platform defends, in a message sent to the same medium, that WhatsApp will continue to “cooperate” with the DPC “and awaits his final decision.”
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