The BEUC (European Consumer Union Office) is that the European organization founded in 1962 that groups 46 European consumer associations from 32 countries (Altroconsumo in Italy), has lodged a complaint with the European Commission and the European Consumer Authorities Network against WhatsApp, accusing the well-known Facebook-owned instant messaging application of having continuously and unduly pressured users into accepting new privacy terms that would not be more understandable or transparent, and therefore in violation of the rights that the GDPR recognizes to the interested parties.

This is learned in a press release published on 12th July 2021 from the same BEUC, in which the consumer organisation supports that, by its nature, times and recurrence, notifications displayed on users’ devices impair their freedom of choice by constraining them to new privacy updates, in contrast to those called for both by European data protection legislation and by the European Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices.

In the complaint lodged from BEUC jointly with eight of the consumer associations that were part of the international organisation, it is confirmed that WhatsApp would not have managed to explain in a clear and understandable language the nature of the changes; and “it is virtually impossible for consumers to have a clear understanding of the consequences WhatsApp changes have for privacy, particularly in relation to the transfer of their personal data to Facebook and third parties.”

According to Monique Goyen, general directive of the BEUC, “WhatsApp has bombarded users for eight months with aggressive and persistent pop-up messages to constrain them to accept its new terms of use and privacy policy”, notifying users that access to the application will be interrupted if they do not give their consent. And under undue pressure, “consumers are not accepting what they are really accepting”.

BEUC believes that the conduct of WhatsApp has been aggravated by the fact that users continue to press to accept a privacy policy that is currently already under the microscope of the European data protection authorities, which are asked to expedite their investigations to establish whether there are indeed privacy violations that have been answered to the Facebook-named messaging app.

Those highlighted from the BEUC are very weighty accusations, also pointing the finger at the alleged violations that are part of the general principles of GDPR, which are punished with administrative sanctions that can achieve almost 4% of the worldwide turnover of a group, such as that of Facebook, which together last year has recorded a turnover of 85 billion dollars.

Even before taking the calculator in hand, it is better to wait for Mark Zuckerberg to find an agreement to respect the rights of European WhatsApp users.

SOURCE: FEDERPRIVACY