Ireland's Privacy Regulator Moves Closer to Decisions in WhatsApp, Twitter Cases--Update
October 07 2019 - 12:07PM
Dow Jones News
By Sam Schechner
A top European Union privacy regulator is moving closer to
making draft decisions involving Facebook Inc.'s WhatsApp and
Twitter Inc. under the bloc's new privacy law.
Ireland's Data Protection Commission said on Monday that its
investigative unit has in recent days completed its investigations
in two of the first cases involving big tech companies. The results
are now on the desk of Helen Dixon, the body's commissioner for her
draft decision, which could come by the end of the year.
The WhatsApp case looks at whether the Facebook-owned chat app
gives sufficient information to users and nonusers about how it
shares data, in particular with other Facebook units. The Twitter
case examines whether the company complied with notification
obligations for a personal data breach the company disclosed to the
regulator in January.
If the companies are found in violation, they could be liable
for hefty fines under the EU's new privacy law, known as the
GDPR.
Representatives for WhatsApp and Twitter declined to comment.
Representatives of Facebook also declined didn't immediately
respond to a request for comment.
The Irish regulator said it also hopes to complete the
investigations and turn over to Ms. Dixon two or three other cases
involving Facebook by the end of the year. That is somewhat later
than had been expected, a delay spokesman Graham Doyle explained in
part by saying the commission has been taking time to make sure its
decisions can withstand potential legal challenges.
"We have moved the first two inquiries into big tech companies
to the decision phase," Mr. Doyle said. "These are the first two of
what we hope will be a number of big tech inquiries completed by
the end of the year."
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 07, 2019 11:52 ET (15:52 GMT)
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