'I can’t stress it enough – you have to scrap WhatsApp' - GAA
The GAA have warned their units against using WhatsApp for official purposes as it does not comply with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Two years ago, clubs had been advised by Croke Park to alter how they contacted members via the Facebook-owned messaging app. Instead of using the group option, central authorities recommended the clubs get in touch with the members individually.
However, the Laois Today website reports that clubs in the county have been told to cease from using it as GAA social media guidelines now advise against WhatsApp for official communications due to GDPR non-compliance.
At a county board meeting on Monday night, Laois’ children’s officer Seamus Lahart told clubs: “I can’t stress it enough – you have to scrap WhatsApp.”
According to the report, a GAA spokesperson stated: “Any contact, be it with parents of under 18’s or adults within the GAA community is to be completed by a club/county/committee in an official manner and the use of WhatsApp should therefore be terminated. All clubs and officials within Laois GAA should be made aware of this issue.”
A document issued to Laois clubs recently warned: “If a WhatsApp group is set up (U12 hurling for example) every parent in that group has their phone number and possibly profile photograph if they have one, shared with every other parent in the group without giving their consent for their personal data to be shared in this manner. Also, the lack of auditing ability the Club/County has over a WhatsApp group is an issue.”
As reported by the Irish Examiner last month, the GAA are in the process of creating their own communications app. The organisation’s chief information officer Tomás Meehan explained it would be “like WhatsApp but not like WhatsApp in that it’s controlled and there won’t be chatter. It will be an auditable and managed messaging platform. It’ll be completely verifiable.”
Following the GAA's warning a spokesperson for WhatsApp said that they encourage all organisations to take a "privacy-first approach".
In a statement, the spokesperson said: "We encourage all organisations to take a privacy-first approach, as the GAA has done here, and to be mindful of the wishes of individuals whose personal data they control.
"WhatsApp also has a number of built-in tools which put individual users in control of their Group interactions.
"This includes a ‘Group Privacy Setting’ which enables users to decide, at a very granular level, who can add them to a Group.
"This can be found in Settings under Privacy then Groups within the WhatsApp app.
"In addition, a feature called ‘Group invitation links’, allows individual WhatsApp users join a Group by clicking on an invitation link that has been generated by the Group Admin.
"This feature enables users to join a Group of their own accord. A Group invitation link can be generated by any Group Admin, ensuring that anybody who joins the Group has actively done so and is aware of the visibility other members of the Group will have of their WhatsApp number, user name and profile photo.
"We would also encourage users to think before they share content on any platform or service, including in WhatsApp Groups.”
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