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The EU’s data watchdogs are starting to flex their muscles. Weeks after Amazon was fined a record €746 (886M) for breaching GDPR rules, WhatsApp has been hit with the regime’s second-highest penalty.
The€225m ($267m) fine wasissued bythe Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC). The body is Europe’s lead authority for WhatsApp owner Facebook, which has its EU headquarters in Ireland.
The DPC said that WhatsApp hadinfringed the EU’s transparency rules:
This includes information provided to data subjects about the processing of information between WhatsApp and other Facebook companies.
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The watchdog also ordered the company to take“remedial actions” to ensure its data processing complies with the rules. WhatsApp said it would appeal the “entirely disproportionate” fine.
Regardless of the final decision, the EU may finally be turning its tough talk on data protection into action.
The bloc passed the landmarkGeneral Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) back in 2018, but critics sayit’s been a blunt swordthus far.
Slapping Amazon and WhatsApp with big GDPR fines suggests it’s getting sharper.
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Story byThomas Macaulay
Thomas is a senior reporter at TNW. He covers European tech, with a focus on AI, cybersecurity, and government policy.Thomas is a senior reporter at TNW. He covers European tech, with a focus on AI, cybersecurity, and government policy.
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