The French data protection regulator, the National Commission for Computing and Freedom (CNIL), said on Wednesday that after receiving a complaint, the agency has launched an investigation into the audio social media application Clubhouse.
CNIL stated that the agency asked Clubhouse developer Alpha Explore about what measures its app has taken to comply with EU rules. The purpose of this investigation is to confirm whether the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation applies to the management of Clubhouse. If applicable, and the Clubhouse has violated the law, the regulator will be able to take punitive measures against it.
Clubhouse users post impromptu and informal conversations, and it has become a very popular social platform less than a year after its launch, with approximately 5 million users as of the end of January. In France, many politicians, including the Minister of Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari (Jean-Baptiste Djebbari), also use it to communicate directly with the public.
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However, CNIL stated that it is not yet clear how Clubhouse uses members’ personal information and how secure this data is. Clubhouse appears to have “no legal entity in the EU”.
CNIL is also investigating a petition circulating in France calling for regulatory intervention in Clubhouse. As of Wednesday, there were more than 13,000 signatures on the petition. The petition read: “We call for an immediate and full investigation of Clubhouse’s violations of the privacy law. If Clubhouse’s operations are illegal, the highest penalty will be imposed.”
Prior to the investigation, the German data protection regulator, Hamburg Data Regulator, expressed similar concerns last month, asking Clubhouse app developers to provide information about how they protect the privacy of European users and their contacts.
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