[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Facebook is facing a fine worth hundreds of billions of won in the European Union (EU) for violating privacy regulations.
On the 2nd (local time), according to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the Irish Data Protection Commission imposed a fine of 115 million euros (approximately 309 billion won) on Facebook's mobile messenger service WhatsApp for violating privacy regulations.
This amount corresponds to about 0.8% of Facebook's revenue last year and is the largest fine ever imposed in Ireland since the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect in 2018.
The Irish Data Protection Commission explained the reason for the fine, stating, "WhatsApp has not properly informed users in Europe about how their personal data is collected and used," and "it also did not disclose information sharing with Facebook to users."
Additionally, the Irish Data Protection Commission ordered WhatsApp to revise its privacy policy.
In response, WhatsApp announced its intention to appeal.
WhatsApp stated, "We have strived to provide transparent information and plan to continue doing so," adding, "We do not agree with this decision regarding data transparency, and the imposition of the fine is also unjust."
Meanwhile, earlier in July, Luxembourg authorities imposed a record fine of 746 million euros (approximately 1.0249 trillion won) on US-based Amazon for violating privacy regulations. Prior to that, in 2019, French authorities fined Google 50 million euros (approximately 68.7 billion won) for violating privacy regulations.
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