Physician – €5,000 Fine (Germany, 2021)

The DPA of Brandenburg has imposed a four-digit fine on a doctor of child and adolescent psychotherapy. The doctor had set up a Whatsgroup with 230 participants to communicate their new office address. A mother of a former minor patient had filed a complaint with the DPA over this, because the doctor had not obtained consent for the group. All group members were disclosed the phone numbers of other members. In some cases, group members were able to draw conclusions that children from families known to them were or had been in treatment with the physician. For this reason, the DPA determined that the doctor had unlawfully processed the data of the WhatsApp group members due to a failure to obtain consent.