Twitter, WhatsApp Sanctions Loom in European Privacy Crackdown

Twitter and Facebook’s WhatsApp are in the firing line as Europe’s leading privacy watchdog for US tech giants edges closer to delivering its first major sanctions under the region’s tough data-protection rules.

The Irish Data Protection Commission said Friday that it finalized a draft decision linked to a data breach at Twitter and has asked its peers across the European Union for their sign-off.

The regulator said it’s also completed a draft decision in a probe of WhatsApp’s transparency around data sharing. The Facebook service will be asked to give its comments on any proposed sanctions before EU counterparts can weigh in.