Social Media: Referring a Non-User Friends by E-mail Requires their Prior Consent

Social Media: Referring a Non-User Friends by E-mail Requires their Prior Consent

On May 14, 2020, the Belgian Data Protection Authority imposed a €50,000 fine on an international dating website (“dating platform” or the “company”) for lack of legal basis of the data processing operations carried out to provide an “invite a friend” feature.

In particular, it considered that consent of  non-users of the dating platform was necessary before letting the user send them invitation emails.