WhatsApp Ireland has been fined €225m for breaching European data protection regulations.

It is the largest fine the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has ever handed out.

The penalty is for breaches of four different articles of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The Data Protection Commissioner launched its investigation three years ago after the GDPR rules came into effect.

It was examining whether WhatsApp was being transparent enough with users and non-users about whether it was meeting its GDPR obligations.

The investigation included the transparency of information provided to users about how their data was being shared between WhatsApp and other Facebook-owned companies.

Last year, the DPC submitted a draft decision to other data protection bodies around Europe.

Eight of them objected to the conclusions and to the proposed €50m fine.

The case was then sent to European Data Protection Board (EDPB) for dispute resolution.

The board directed the DPC to increase the fine and as a result it has now imposed a €225m fine.

It has also imposed a ‘reprimand’ and ordered WhatsApp to bring its data processing into compliance by taking a range of different actions.

In a statement, WhatsApp said it disagreed with decision and labelled the penalties, “entirely disproportionate.”

It said it will now appeal the decision.