Meta Platforms’ WhatsApp on Tuesday won backing from Europe’s top court for its challenge to a fine that was increased to €225m 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 US 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 €17.5m of the more than €4bn 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.
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.
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.
Separately, the Telegram messaging app, an important platform for public and private communications in Russia, is facing new restrictions and fines for hosting content that the authorities object to, state and independent media reported on Tuesday.
The RBC news outlet said the communications watchdog Roskomnadzor planned to limit access to Telegram from Tuesday, and measures to slow down access to it had already started. The watchdog did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reuters reporters in Russia said the app was still working, but appeared slow to download videos.
Telegram did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
