New York: WhatsApp Facebook message service was fined almost $ 270 million by the Irish authority on Thursday because it was not transparent about how it used data collected from people on services, in cases representing the major test of European capabilities to uphold the privacy of the Law Landmark Data.
The 265-page decision is the first major verdict against Facebook under a broad European Union data protection regulation, or GDPR, a three-year-old law that is criticized by many people has been properly enforced.
Ireland Regulators say whatsapp is unclear with users about how data is shared with other Facebook properties such as the main social and Instagram networks.
WhatsApp said he would appeal the decision, preparing what was expected to be a long legal battle.
GDPR is heralded as the most comprehensive data privacy law in the world when it applies, and is fought for as a model to fight the practice of dataahording from the internet giant.
But the law has produced several sentences, and many say it has not fulfilled his promise.
Regulators in Ireland have been in the center of debate.
Under the law, the company must be arranged by countries where they have their European headquarters.
European office Facebook, Google, Twitter, Apple and other company scores are based on Ireland due to low corporate tax rates and other benefits.
But it has put extraordinary pressure on the Ireland data protection commission.
In July, MPs in the Irish Parliament issued a spicy report, said that the Irish regulator “failed to protect the basic rights of citizens” due to lack of law enforcement.
A fine of 225 million euros, a small portion of Facebook’s annual profit, is the largest issued by Irish regulators to technology giants under the law; In December, Ireland fined 450,000 euro was related to data violations.
The verdict said whatsapp did not meet the “transparency obligation” to clearly reveal how data from users will be used by Facebook for other services.
The decision requires WhatsApp to update the privacy policy and make other changes to make people more aware of how data will be used.
Other technology companies have also been targeted under GDPR.
In July, Amazon was fined 750 million euros for violations related to the practice of advertising by the Luxembourg Privacy Regulator.
In 2019, Google was fined 50 million euros by French authorities because they did not get adequate permits from use for certain online advertising.