Feburary 2021 – In January, the
most remarkable announcement of the Turkish Data Protection Board
(the "Board") was in relation to the new
privacy policy of the messaging and VoIP platform WhatsApp. Another
important development was the Board's principle decision
regarding the personal data of third parties illegally provided by
data subjects. The Board also celebrated European Data Protection
Day on 28 January 2021 with a conference.
The Board initiates an investigation against WhatsApp
WhatsApp, Inc.—a subsidiary of Facebook—recently
announced an update to its privacy policy whereby the use of the
WhatsApp application is conditional upon users' explicit
consent to their personal data being shared with and transferred to
Facebook and other third parties abroad. After WhatsApp, Inc. made
the announcement, the Board initiated an ex
officio investigation against the company in its decision
numbered 2021/28 and dated 12 January 2021. The Board also stated
that it