Unfortunately for WhatsApp, the European Commission has not forgotten the outcry over its change in terms of use a year ago. In one communicated published on January 27, the European institution and the network of national consumer protection authorities are demanding answers from WhatsApp by the end of February to a series of questions about this change.
2021 is not over in Europe for WhatsApp
This decision is the direct result of the complaint against WhatsApp, in July 2021, of the European Bureau of Consumers’ Unions (BEUC), a gathering of 46 European consumer rights associations, including UFC-que Choisir for France.
Free Basics: the flaws of the free Internet offered by Meta to developing countries
Its deputy director, Ursula Pachl welcomed the approach of the Commission and the consumer protection authorities, recalling the subject of the July complaint, ” WhatsApp has bombarded users for months with persistent pop-up messages. What’s more, consumers didn’t know what they were being pressured into “.
Ursula Pachl accuses WhatsApp of having been deliberately vague about this, setting the stage for far-reaching data processing without meaningful consumer consent “.
WhatsApp regulars will surely remember it, at the beginning of 2021, the messaging system decided to change its terms of use and introduce a new privacy policy, sparking general indignation. The great means implemented to convince recalcitrant European users, with a lot of alerts, in-app messages, to encourage them to tick “I accept” have marked the spirits.
So much so that WhatsApp had to put water in its wine by delaying the implementation of these new conditions until May 2021. At the same time, encrypted messengers like Signal or Telegram were rubbing their hands with revealing registration peaks .
The European Commission demands answers
On the occasion of the opening of a official dialog with messaging, EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said, “ I expect WhatsApp to fully comply with EU rules that protect consumers and their privacy “.
Meta’s company, formerly Facebook, will have to prove to the Commission that it clearly informed consumers about its new terms, their consequences, show the fairness of the notifications used to trick users into accepting its new policy and whether they had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the resulting changes.
WhatsApp will also have to reassure the Commission about its data exchanges with third-party entities or other Meta structures. A major concern for the European authority. In 2016 Facebook was fined 109 million euros for breaches of merger and acquisition rules. The social network had gone back on its promise not to share data between itself and WhatsApp.
TechCrunch reports a serene reaction from the courier after the Commission’s announcement, ” We look forward to explaining to the European Commission how we protect the privacy of our users in accordance with our obligations under European law “.
The American media specifies that the spokesperson for WhatsApp referred to a November 2021 update of its privacy policy in the European region, in accordance with the GDPR. A sign of good will insofar as the Meta subsidiary had no real choice: it was previously fined 225 million euros for violating the GDPR two months earlier. A decision she disputes.
To avoid a new procedure in Europe, WhatsApp “ has until the end of February to come back to us with concrete commitments on how they will respond to our concerns » explains Didier Reynders.