€15.9 Million Fine for Deleting WhatsApp Messages

The European Commission has issued its first decision imposing a financial penalty on a company for deleting messages on a messaging platform. This case involves International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) France SAS, which was subjected to an inspection by the European Commission at the beginning of 2023. Upon receiving information about the initiation of the inspection by the Commission, one of the company’s employees deleted WhatsApp messages exchanged with an employee of a competing company.

Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Competition, stated, “Adhering to antitrust investigation rules is of paramount importance. Companies under investigation must ensure that employees do not delete or manipulate business records, including communications via mobile phones. Today’s decision to impose a fine on IFF demonstrates that we will not tolerate any actions that could undermine the effectiveness of our investigations, and that we will rigorously pursue and penalize any such obstructions.”

For more information on the case, please refer to the press release:
https://lnkd.in/ddNgqg8v