Overview
- Europe’s top court overturned the General Court’s refusal to hear WhatsApp’s case, allowing a direct challenge to a binding European Data Protection Board decision.
- The EDPB’s order had instructed Ireland’s Data Protection Commission to increase the penalty and require compliance changes, leading to a €225 million fine in 2021 for alleged transparency failures.
- The judgment addresses only admissibility and does not rule on whether WhatsApp violated the GDPR or on the appropriateness of the fine.
- The EU General Court must now examine the substance of WhatsApp’s challenge, with no hearing date announced.
- Ireland’s data protection authority says national proceedings are paused pending EU court outcomes, as the European Commission separately imposes tighter oversight by designating WhatsApp a very large online platform and requiring access for third‑party AI providers.