WhatsApp wins court backing to challenge $268 million Irish privacy fine

BRUSSELS/DUBLIN: Meta Platforms’ WhatsApp on Tuesday won backing from Europe’s top court for its challenge to a fine that was increased to 225 million euros ($268 million) by the EU privacy watchdog, a ruling that could pave the way for similar action by other companies.

Ireland’s DPC is the lead privacy regulator for most of the U.S. tech giants due to their EU head offices being located in Ireland. 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 intervened in 2021.

The DPC has only collected 17.5 million euros of the more than 4 billion euros it has fined large tech companies for GDPR breaches since 2020 due to all but two of its completed investigations being subjected to lengthy legal challenges, many to 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

The Court of Justice of the European Union on Tuesday 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 European Union,” 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 said.

A WhatsApp spokesperson welcomed the judgment.

“(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 allow a number of the other appeals to progress.

The case is C-97/23P WhatsApp Ireland v EDPB.