WhatsApp will challenge an order by the Data Protection Commission (DPC) where the commission ordered to pay a fine of €225 million for data breach. The European arm of WhatsApp secured permission from a High Court to challenge the order by DPC in last August.
DPC had accused WhatsApp of breaching European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). But the company had confirmed that they would go for appeal right after the news came out.
As per a report by Breaking News.ie, the matter came before Mr Justice Anthony Barr at the High Court on Monday. The court said that the application to have the DPC’s decision judicially reviewed should be made in the presence of lawyers for the respondents in the action, namely the commission, Ireland and the Attorney General.
At the High Court on Monday, Declan McGrath SC for WhatsApp Ireland said his client’s application for permission or leave to bring the action was not being opposed. Counsel also said the respondents were not objecting to his client’s application to amend some technical aspects of its judicial review proceedings.
The judge gave permission to challenge the DPC’s order adjourned the matter to a date next month.
In the judicial review, WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta (formerly Facebook.Inc) will seek declarations from the court, including those certain provisions of the 2018 Data Protection Act are invalid and unconstitutional, and are incompatible with the State’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The investigation looked at issues including the service’s processing of the data of users and non-users of WhatsApp’s services, and the sharing of personal data between WhatsApp and Facebook companies.
WhatsApp claims the DPC’s decision, which it made under sections of the 2018 Act, is flawed and should be set aside in its entirety.