London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jul 23, 2025

WhatsApp facing up to €50M privacy fine

WhatsApp facing up to €50M privacy fine

The draft penalty would be one of the largest under the European Union’s data protection rules.
Facebook-owned messaging app WhatsApp could be fined up to €50 million over violations of the European Union's data protection rules, according to three people with direct knowledge of the procedure who spoke with POLITICO.

The preliminary penalty — the figure is now under consultation with the bloc's other data protection agencies — would be one of the largest-ever fines under the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, a set of privacy rules that came into force in 2018.

As part of Ireland's draft findings, the internet messenger may face a fine of between €30 million and €50 million for not living up to transparency requirements under Europe's privacy regime. Whatsapp could also be required to change how it handles its users' data, as the case relates to how the messenger may have failed to properly inform its EU users about how it would share their data with Facebook.

France's privacy authority has fined Google €50 million for separate privacy violations, while Ireland's Data Protection Commission, which has regulatory authority over Facebook, recently issued a €450,000 penalty against Twitter. That represented its first levy against any Silicon Valley company, many of which fall under Dublin's jurisdiction because these firms are legally domiciled in Ireland, mostly for tax reasons.

The multi-million euro draft WhatsApp fine is an initial proposal from Dublin, and has been opened up to other European data protection agencies for their feedback. A final decision on how big the fine should be — and what other remedies WhatsApp should agree to — is not expected until later in the year.

A spokesman for Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner declined to comment. A spokesman for WhatsApp said the company was awaiting the final privacy decision.

In November, Facebook earmarked €77.5 million for a likely privacy fine against its messaging service WhatsApp, which, unlike Instagram, is a separate legal entity in Ireland and therefore has its own set of financial records. The Irish data protection agency is conducting a separate investigation into whether WhatsApp can legally share its users' data with Facebook's other digital services, among other privacy-related concerns.

The draft penalty against WhatsApp, which Ireland submitted to other EU agencies for review just before Christmas, comes as the messenger faces a global backlash over planned updates to its terms and conditions. Those include clarifying to its billions of users how their data is shared more widely with Facebook's other services.

Those changes will not affect WhatsApp European operations, but people across the bloc and elsewhere still have flocked to rivals like Signal because of privacy fears. On January 15, the messenger said it was delaying the upcoming privacy changes, in part because of the confusion generated by the proposed overhaul.

Johannes Caspar, Hamburg's privacy regulator who filed objections to a previous Irish decision against Twitter, told POLITICO earlier this week that he had not ruled out doing the same in the WhatsApp case.

"WhatsApp has an enormous amount of users," he said. "It must be clear that the consent mechanism they use must be lawful and that consent is informed and freely given by the users."
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
×