Parents found to be spreading misinformation or personal data in Whatsapp groups, could be in breach of data protection laws and may be sued.
Its after primary schools were told they no longer need to inform parents if a child has covid.
The HSE issued a warning to families not to use group chats to name children with the virus.
Data expert Darragh O’Brien says if parents do so they could find themselves in a "legal grey area".
"Processing of information for domestic use, or for your own personal or household group is outside of the scope for the legislation.
"But once you move into a public organised sharing of information, even if you're not a school or a business etc - you're in that grey area where you could actually fall within the scope of the legislation and all that comes with it."
