Thousands Of People Petitioned!French Regulators Have Launched An Investigation Into Clubhouse

Recently, the French National Commission for Information Technology and Liberties (CNIL) announced that it has begun an investigation into the audio social software Clubhouse after receiving complaints to verify whether Alpha Exploration, the developer of Clubhouse, has taken measures to comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). .

The GDPR regulations came into force in May 2018 and are designed to ensure that any organization, even one not based in the EU but that is processing personal data or providing goods or services to EU citizens or residents, must comply with issues such as consent and data portability. data protection principles.

Clubhouse, on the other hand, is an invitation-only, audio-only social media application that has been in the spotlight recently. According to the latest data released by App Annie, Clubhouse’s total downloads have now reached 13 million.

In France, some politicians, including Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, have also used it to communicate directly with the public.

It is reported that a petition is circulating in France to warn CNIL that Clubhouse may violate privacy laws. As of Wednesday, the petition had more than 13,000 signatures.

"Clubhouse's privacy rules state that if a person signs up, the names and numbers of all their contacts will be uploaded to a secret database, which Clubhouse can then sell to third parties," the petition states.

It is understood that Clubhouse’s owners advertise in their privacy policy that the company will not sell users’ personal data, but it does list a variety of reasons why user data may be shared with third parties, such as advertising and marketing services.

The CNIL has launched an investigation into how Clubhouse uses users' personal information and the security of the data, saying in a statement: "If it is confirmed that the application does not comply with the GDPR, then the CNIL will be able to impose its own sanctions in this case."

Not just in France, Hamburg’s privacy watchdog also expressed concerns about Clubhouse last month, saying they had asked the app to provide more information on how to protect the privacy of European users and their contacts.

There is no doubt about the popularity and development potential of Clubhouse. However, like other social media platforms, it inevitably faces issues such as user privacy protection and content moderation. At present, Clubhouse still has a long way to go in the future.