Prosecutors and consumer protection organization IDEC also seek that WhatsApp be ordered to pay R$1.73bn in collective moral damages.
A federal court in São Paulo has temporarily prohibited WhatsApp from sharing its users’ data with other Meta* platforms, such as Instagram and Facebook, for personalized advertising by third parties.
According to information released on Wednesday (14) by the Federal Prosecution Service (MPF) and the Brazilian Institute of Consumer Protection (IDEC), the decision from the 2nd Federal Civil Court of São Paulo requires WhatsApp to offer users an option to withdraw their consent to the Meta privacy policy introduced in 2021.
IDEC emphasized that Meta has 90 days to comply with the preliminary ruling. Otherwise, it will have to pay a fine of R$200,000 for each day of noncompliance.
This is the first judicial decision regarding the public civil action filed by the MPF and IDEC against WhatsApp, alleging violations of personal data protection in Meta’s messaging app.
They argue that WhatsApp’s practices violated provisions of the General Data Protection Law (LGPD), the Consumer Protection Code, and disrespected guarantees laid out in the Internet Civil Framework.
In addition to requests to ensure user rights, MPF and IDEC seek that, at the end of the process, WhatsApp be ordered to pay R$1.73 billion in collective punitive damages.
According to the prosecutors, the judicial ruling establishes that WhatsApp’s data handling rules for users in Brazil must be the same as those adopted in the European Union.
“The decision confirms the legitimacy of IDEC and MPF as plaintiffs in this case, considering the institutions’ experience in these matters and the defense of collective rights,”
said Camila Leite Contri, coordinator of the Telecommunications and Digital Rights Program at IDEC, in a statement.
Meta responded that “the update of the Privacy Policy in 2021 did not expand the app’s ability to share data with Meta and did not impact the way millions of people communicate privately with friends and family,” said a WhatsApp spokesperson in an email response that Valor International translated from Portuguese.
The company added that “WhatsApp uses limited data to provide its service and keep users safe” and that “it has cooperated with the relevant authorities on this matter over the past three years and will continue to evaluate appropriate legal measures to prevent any impact on users and businesses that rely on the app daily.”
*along with its subsidiaries Instagram and Facebook are banned and designated as extremist in Russia
Source: Valor International
