Spanish court ruling gives parents permission to read their children’s WhatsApp messages

The mother argued that her ex-husband had breached Spain's privacy laws by checking his nine-year-old's messages

An earlier lower court in Pontevedra sided with the mother after she argued that her ex-husband’s actions had gone against privacy laws (Reuters)

A father who was sued by his ex-wife for reading his two children’s WhatsApp conversations has been cleared by a court in northern Spain.

The mother claimed at a court in Pontevedra on 26 December that her daughter’s privacy had been breached by her ex-husband, after he ordered his children to hand over their mobile phones so he could read their WhatsApp messages.

The unnamed woman told Spanish daily newspaper El Español: “Both children told me that their father put them in a room and went through his daughter's conversations on her mobile phone. When he asked his son to give him his mobile, he said no.”

The father allegedly threatened his son with the police if he did not give up his password.

An earlier lower court in Pontevedra sided with the mother after she argued that her ex-husband’s actions had gone against Spain’s privacy laws.

However, the higher court said that the claim conflicted with Article 154 of the country’s civil code which relates to parental responsibilities.

Article 154 states that parents have an obligation to educate their children and provide them with an integral education.

The judge then ruled: “The development of social networks, as well as WhatsApp, requires attention and vigilance of parents to preserve the safety of minors.”

The mother was told to pay all legal costs.

The case comes amid other rulings by Spanish courts on the use of WhatsApp.

In 2016, a woman was found guilty of slander in Galicia last year for words in her WhatsApp status which alluded to her former partner. According to Spain’s civil code, chat messages via email, SMS and WhatsApp can be presented as evidence in court.

But the case could also affect international precedent, given the context of ongoing global debate over how much access law enforcement agencies are entitled to digital communication.

In 2016, the FBI attempted to coerce Apple into unlocking a phone which belonged to San Bernadino shooter Syed Farouk, but ultimately failed.

In the wake of the case, Facebook introduced end-to-end encryption for the messaging service, ensuring that law enforcement would not be able to read the messages even if they won legal access to them.

“The idea is simple: when you send a message, the only person who can read it is the person or group chat that you send that message to. No one can see inside that message,” WhatsApp wrote in a blog post.

“Not cybercriminals. Not hackers. Not oppressive regimes. Not even us.”