Tens of thousands of people petitioned! French regulators have launched an investigation into Clubhouse

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

The GDPR regulations came into effect in May 2018 and are designed to ensure that any organization – even those not headquartered in the EU but that are processing personal data or offering goods or services to EU citizens or residents – must comply with data protection principles such as consent and data portability.

On the other hand, Clubhouse, an invitation-only, audio-only social media app, has been gaining popularity recently. According to the latest data released by App Annie, Clubhouse has now been downloaded a total of 13 million times .

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

A petition is reportedly circulating in France , warning the CNIL that Clubhouse may be violating privacy laws. As of Wednesday, the petition has 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 publicize in their privacy policy that the company will not sell users ' personal data, but do 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 that data, and said in a statement : "If it is confirmed that the application does not comply with the GDPR, the CNIL will be able to impose its own sanctions in this case."

Not only in France, last month , Hamburg privacy regulators also expressed concerns about Clubhouse, 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 Clubhouse's popularity and development potential . However, like other social media platforms, it inevitably faces issues such as user privacy protection and content review. At present, Clubhouse still has a long way to go in the future.

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