WhatsApp wins court backing to challenge US$268 million Irish privacy fine
The ruling can pave the way for similar action by other companies
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[BRUSSELS/DUBLIN] Meta’s WhatsApp on Tuesday (Feb 10) won backing from Europe’s top court for its challenge to a fine that was increased to 225 million euros (S$338.9 million) by the European Union privacy watchdog.
It is a ruling that could pave the way for similar action by other companies.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) is the lead privacy regulator for most of the US tech giants, due to their EU head offices being located in the country.
It fined WhatsApp following complaints about its use of personal data in the country, later increasing the penalty it imposed after the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) intervened in 2021.
Since 2020, the DPC has fined large tech companies for more than four billion euros as a result of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) breaches.
It has collected only 17.5 million euros of that amount, due to all but two of its completed investigations being subjected to lengthy legal challenges, many involving similar EDPB interventions.
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Meta had lost its initial appeal against the higher penalty, after judges at a lower tribunal said it had no legal standing to sue the authority as the EDPB’s decision was directed to the Irish watchdog and not to the company.
An act open to challenge
On Tuesday, the Court of Justice of the EU disagreed, saying that WhatsApp’s action is admissible and telling the lower tribunal to examine the case on its merits.
“The EDPB’s decision is indeed an act open to challenge before the Courts of the EU,” the Luxembourg-based institution said.
“That decision was of direct concern to WhatsApp, since it brought about a distinct change in the legal position of that undertaking, without leaving any discretion to its addressees,” judges added.
A WhatsApp spokesperson welcomed the judgment and said: “(It) upholds our argument that those businesses and people should be able to challenge decisions the EDPB makes against them, so that it can be held fully accountable by the EU courts.”
Clarity from the courts on how WhatsApp’s 2021 penalty was calculated would enable a number of other appeals to progress. REUTERS
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