In collaboration with eight other European Consumer Organizations, the Consumers' Association Quality of Life and the POMEK "The Intervention" filed complaints today, July 12, with the General Secretariat of Trade and Consumer Protection of the Ministry of Development and Investment , requesting an immediate investigation into WhatsApp's privacy policy .
As stated in a relevant announcement by EKPOIZO, the complaints concern "the illegal, aggressive and misleading practices of the popular messaging application."
At this point, we should recall that, recently, a survey was conducted, entitled “What's up with WhatsApp?”, by the European Consumers' Federation (BEUC), of which EKPOIZO is a member, which was submitted to the European Commission, through the network for cooperation between EU Member States in the field of consumer protection (Consumer Protection Cooperation Network-CPC Network).
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It is noted that any issues of personal data protection, within the framework of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), are not part of the complaints, due to the fact that a relevant investigation is already being conducted in Germany and at the European level by the competent authorities.
But let's look at these complaints in more detail.
The complaints are based on the continuous and annoying notifications, through which the application has been “bombarding” users daily for some time now, to accept the new terms and privacy policy, giving them the impression that, if they do not do so, they will have limited access to the system’s functions. These practices and in particular their content, in terms of their nature, time and repetition, exert great pressure on users, are misleading, aggressive and infringe on their freedom of choice, in violation of the European Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices.
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Furthermore, the complaints extensively mention the lack of transparency in the new terms, the complex and incomprehensible language regarding the modifications that WhatsApp has made. Users cannot fully understand the consequences that these modifications will have on the protection of their privacy, in particular in relation to the transmission of their personal data to Facebook and to third parties. Given this ambiguity, there is a violation of European consumer protection law, which obliges companies to provide clear, precise and non-misleading terms in their contracts and commercial communications.
The illegal practice of accepting the new terms is further reinforced by the fact that WhatsApp continues to pressure users to accept the new privacy policy, which is being investigated by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) for breach of the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This investigation is being carried out in the context of the adoption of interim measures under the urgency procedure by the Hamburg Commissioner for Data and Freedom of Information (HmbBfDI) iii, in the context of the implementation of the Regulation.
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Specifically, the German Authority has banned “Facebook Ireland Ltd” from processing personal data from WhatsApp users in Germany, on the grounds that the new privacy policy update is unlawful and infringes users’ rights. The German Authority will seek a binding decision at both national and European level through the review conducted by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB).
For this reason, E.K.POI.ZO. and the EC members of POMEK “The Intervention” call on the General Directorate of Consumer Protection to conduct an investigation into WhatsApp's practices and the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) and the European Authorities in the field of consumer protection to cooperate closely on these urgent and particularly sensitive issues in terms of user protection.
