WhatsApp and Facebook each receive a privacy fine of 300,000 euros in Spain

The Spanish privacy regulator AEPD has imposed a joint fine of 600,000 euros on Facebook and its subsidiary WhatsApp for the data transfer between the two companies. It took place without permission.

The watchdog writes in a statement that WhatsApp shared user data with Facebook without their permission. Facebook then processed this data for its own purposes, for which no consent had been obtained either. According to the regulator, this should have happened, as a result of which each company now receives a maximum fine of 300,000 euros. After Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp in 2014, users would have had no choice but to accept the amended terms, the AEPD said.

The sharing of data by WhatsApp has led to actions by regulators in several EU Member States, for example in Germany and France. On Wednesday, the British regulator announced that WhatsApp has signed an agreement stipulating that it will not transfer data to its parent company until the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect. In addition, it may only continue the transfer if it can comply with the rules of the Regulation.

WhatsApp said at the end of 2016 that it would temporarily not share data with Facebook, after the Article 29 working group first requested it. All EU privacy supervisors are united in this working group. In October of last year, the working group said that the data transfer could not take place yet.