Cyprus Party's Voting App Faces GDPR Crackdown Before Election
A new political party in Cyprus, Amesi Dimokratia Kyprou (Direct Democracy Cyprus), is facing scrutiny over its use of a voting app called Agoréa. Founded by Fidias Panayiotou, a European Parliament member and political influencer, the party relies on the app to let followers directly influence his votes—and now its candidate selection. But regulators have raised serious concerns about how the app handles users' political data.
Panayiotou has used Agoréa for nearly ten months to let followers vote on his decisions in the European Parliament. Before officially launching his party, he invited users to join the app, created polls on legislative proposals, and followed the majority's choice when casting his MEP votes in 2024. The same system now underpins the party's structure, managing member engagement and primary elections for its parliamentary candidate lists.
Cyprus' data protection authority has ordered the app's immediate removal from all stores, citing risks to users' privacy. The regulator argues that Agoréa could systematically track and store individual voting patterns, violating data protection rules. Its decision rests on Article 35 of the GDPR, which requires a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) for high-risk data processing. While the authority cannot force an instant shutdown, it can impose fines if the app fails to comply.
The party plans to publish Agoréa's full source code and algorithms after selecting its candidates. Direct Democracy Cyprus will compete in the parliamentary elections on May 24, currently polling sixth among 29 parties. The case highlights ongoing debates over how online voting must be designed to meet legal standards.
The authority's order does not stop the app's use but demands a review before it can return to app stores. Panayiotou's party must now address privacy concerns while preparing for the election. The outcome could set a precedent for how digital tools are used in political decision-making across the EU.
Read also:
- American teenagers taking up farming roles previously filled by immigrants, a concept revisited from 1965's labor market shift.
- Weekly affairs in the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag)
- Landslide claims seven lives, injures six individuals while they work to restore a water channel in the northern region of Pakistan
- Escalating conflict in Sudan has prompted the United Nations to announce a critical gender crisis, highlighting the disproportionate impact of the ongoing violence on women and girls.
