The European Commission announced, on 6 March 2023, that the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network ('CPC Network') and WhatsApp LLC came to an agreement regarding changes to WhatsApp's terms of service. In particular, the Commission highlighted that the CPC Network first requested, in January 2022, that WhatsApp clarify points in its terms of service, including the purposes for which consumer personal data is used, whether consumers understand that WhatsApp shares this personal data with Meta, Inc. and its messenging service Facebook, and how consumers can reject the terms of service. In addition, the Commission detailed that the CPC Network reiterated this request in June 2022, querying whether WhatsApp derives revenue from commercial policies relating to users' personal data.

Accordingly, the Commission outlined that, following the agreement, WhatsApp will make it easier for users to reject updates to the terms of service when they disagree with them, and explain that disagreement will mean an inability to use the platform. Further, the Commission provided that WhatsApp confirmed users' personal data is not shared with third parties or other Meta services for advertising purposes.

More specifically, the Commission noted that, regarding future terms of service updates, WhatsApp will:

• explain what changes it intends to make to the users' contracts and how the changes could affect their rights;
• include the possibility to reject updated terms of service as prominently as the possibility to accept them; and
• ensure that the notifications informing about the updates can be dismissed or the review of the updates can be delayed, as well as respect users' choices and refrain from sending recurring notifications.

Finally, the Commission provided that the CPC Network will monitor how WhatsApp implements the commitments above when making updates to policies and terms of service.

You can read the announcement here, the Irish Competition and Consumer Protection Commission's press release here, and the Swedish Consumer Agency's ('Om Konsumentverket') press release, only available in Swedish, here.