WhatsApp Revising Its Terms And Conditions Again: No Consent Required

WhatsApp is currently working again on a new version of the Terms of Use. This time the data protection regulation is at the center of the revision – in the event that an objection to a record penalty is unsuccessful.

The subsidiary of the Meta/Facebook group was sentenced some time ago by the Irish data protection supervisory authority to a fine of a whopping 225 million euros. This is the second-highest penalty since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force in the European internal market. Linked to this was the order to adapt the data protection guideline to the legal requirements if the company wanted to continue to offer its messenger service in Europe.

WhatsApp has filed an objection to the fine and a court will have to decide whether the view of the data protection authority is justified. Regardless of this, the company has already started working on a modified version, reports the British BBC.

No Need For Approval

On the part of the messenger operator, however, only a few formulations in the clauses would change, but everything remains the same in terms of the practical functioning of the WhatsApp network. Above all, the changes ensure a detailed description of how and for what purposes user data is processed. The new version also only affects the guidelines for users in the EU area, while the documents for the rest of the world remain unchanged.

The company also emphasizes that the changes are of a more formal nature and that it will not be necessary to obtain separate consent from the users. This has not been the best experience in the past. After all, many users are now suspicious if they should agree to new clauses since such steps were previously initiated earlier if the data were to be shared with Facebook again.