WhatsApp Ireland Ltd has appealed a €225 million ($236 million) fine to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on Tuesday, the European Union’s highest court of appeal. The company, owned by Meta, is challenging a binding decision issued by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) regarding alleged violations of its data privacy obligations.

WhatsApp took this step after its 2022 challenge of the decision was rejected by the General Court of the CJEU. The court ruled that the EDPB’s decision did not directly and individually affect the company but was instead directed at Ireland’s national data protection agency for final enforcement. This ruling highlighted the EU’s complementary system of judicial remedies, noting that the conditions for locus standi before a European court were not met. Instead, the court advised that WhatsApp would need to pursue the national legal route, challenging any enforcement decision directly targeting it in an Irish court.

The EDPB took action against WhatsApp Ireland Ltd in 2021, under its mandate to resolve a dispute among EU member states’ data protection authorities. The dispute arose from a fine imposed by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) on WhatsApp for breaching multiple provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In particular, the DPC based its claim on a probe it conducted to investigate whether WhatsApp fulfilled its obligations to provide transparent information under the GDPR. The probe concluded that WhatsApp had failed to adequately inform users about data transfers between WhatsApp and its parent company Facebook.

The EDPB consequently intervened and concluded that the fine should be increased to approximately €225 million. In addition, it issued a binding decision on WhatsApp to cease its violations of the relevant GDPR provisions within three months.

Meta, WhatsApp’s parent company, is currently facing numerous fines under EU data protection enforcement. In Ireland alone, the data protection authority has imposed multiple penalties on Meta in recent years, including a record €1.2 billion fine in May 2024. Additionally, Germany’s highest court recently ruled that users could claim compensation for Facebook’s data breaches.