Parents can read children’s WhatsApp chats, rules Spanish court

MADRID: Putting the rights and responsibilities of parents above privacy laws, a Spanish court has ruled that parents and guardians can monitor social media use by children and read their WhatsApp messages. A divorced father of two won the right to read his children’s WhatsApp messages as a result of the ruling, the International Business Times reported on Wednesday.  “The development of social networks, as well as WhatsApp, requires attention and vigilance of the parents to preserve the indemnity of minors,” the court was quoted as saying. The man was facing the charge of breaching the privacy right of his daughter after he read her WhatsApp chats. The unnamed man was sued by his ex-wife. But a court in the northern Spanish city of Pontevedra upheld his actions, saying that the use of social networks by minors “requires attention and vigilance of the parents”, the report said.