Italy: Italian Data Protection Authority announces investigation into Clubhouse

On 16 March 2022, the Italian Data Protection Authority (Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali) announced that it has opened an investigation into Alpha Exploration, the owner of audio-based social media app Clubhouse, for potential breaches of data protection regulations. Specifically, the Authority alleged that Alpha Exploration had, among other points, shared account information with third-parties, failed to provide adequate information on its data processing practices on request, and implemented inadequate security measures.