https://feeds.thelocal.com/ Read the latest news and views from Spain in English en-us news@thelocal.com (TheLocal) webmaster@thelocal.com (TheLocal) TheLocal RSS Feed A divorced father of two sued by his ex-wife for reading their nine-year-old daughter’s WhatsApp chats has been cleared by a Spanish court, setting a precedent for what constitutes parental monitoring in the realms of underage online privacy. https://www.thelocal.es/20171227/parents-allowed-to-spy-on-their-kids-whatsapp-spain-court-rules Wed, 27 Dec 2017 16:02:31 +0100 parents-allowed-to-spy-on-their-kids-whatsapp-spain-court-rules The campaign, the brainchild of a Spanish rice brand, was one of the most successful advertising campaigns in Spain this year. https://www.thelocal.es/20151119/paella-emoji-campaign-one-of-the-years-most-successful-in-spain Thu, 19 Nov 2015 14:16:45 +0100 paella-emoji-campaign-one-of-the-years-most-successful-in-spain A bit of 'Mean Girls'-esque high school drama has stirred up a small town in the Madrid area after a letter containing the private messages of teachers insulting students and parents was dropped into residents' mailboxes. https://www.thelocal.es/20150513/teachers-arrested-for-spreading-whatsapp-secrets Wed, 13 May 2015 13:00:53 +0200 teachers-arrested-for-spreading-whatsapp-secrets The hashtag #PaellaEmoji has been trending across social media after a campaign to get an emoji for the popular Spanish dish went viral. https://www.thelocal.es/20150311/spaniards-demand-paella-emoji Wed, 11 Mar 2015 17:14:00 +0100 spaniards-demand-paella-emoji Spanish politicians are seeking to capitalize on the fact that Spaniards are Europe’s biggest WhatsApp users by offering up their mobile numbers to encourage citizens to contact them via text message. https://www.thelocal.es/20150218/spanish-mps-turn-to-whatsapp-to-lure-in-voters Wed, 18 Feb 2015 13:20:00 +0100 spanish-mps-turn-to-whatsapp-to-lure-in-voters A mobile industry survey has revealed that the vast majority of Spaniards are no longer the talkative and up-close communicators they were once known to be. https://www.thelocal.es/20140918/spaniards-would-rather-whatsapp-than-talk Thu, 18 Sep 2014 19:30:00 +0200 spaniards-would-rather-whatsapp-than-talk The driver of a shuttle bus service between Barcelona's airport and city centre is facing disciplinary action after a passenger videoed him sending WhatsApp messages on his mobile phone while steering through traffic. https://www.thelocal.es/20140916/barcelona-bus-driver-busted-texting-at-wheel Tue, 16 Sep 2014 15:02:00 +0200 barcelona-bus-driver-busted-texting-at-wheel Spaniards spend an incredible 8 hours and 48 minutes a day using devices outside work, making them the most tech addicted people in Europe, a new study has found. https://www.thelocal.es/20140718/spaniards-crowned-biggest-tech-addicts-in-europe Fri, 18 Jul 2014 17:00:00 +0200 spaniards-crowned-biggest-tech-addicts-in-europe Lost in virtual translation whenever a Spanish friend texts you? Here The Local offers a simple guide to SMS and Whatsapp shorthand so that you don’t have to keep writing '¿Qué?' after every message. https://www.thelocal.es/20140429/phone-dummy-guide-spanish-texting-slang Tue, 29 Apr 2014 11:25:00 +0200 phone-dummy-guide-spanish-texting-slang Prestigious medical journal 'The Lancet' has recorded a diagnosis of 'WhatsAppitis" in the case of a pregnant woman in Granada who arrived at hospital with sore wrists after over-using the mobile phone text message service. https://www.thelocal.es/20140326/first-case-of-whatsappitis-documented-in-spain Wed, 26 Mar 2014 13:49:00 +0100 first-case-of-whatsappitis-documented-in-spain Billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg answered questions on Monday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and defended his huge €14 billion ($19 billion) takeover of free mobile messaging service WhatsApp, saying it is actually worth much more. https://www.thelocal.es/20140225/zuckerberg-takes-centre-stage-in-barcelona-tech-fair Tue, 25 Feb 2014 10:20:00 +0100 zuckerberg-takes-centre-stage-in-barcelona-tech-fair A teacher of English in Madrid has been remanded in custody without bail for sending students pornographic messages using WhatsApp. https://www.thelocal.es/20131008/teacher-sends-students-porno-whatsapp-messages Tue, 08 Oct 2013 18:26:00 +0200 teacher-sends-students-porno-whatsapp-messages Some Spanish words are so great that it makes you wonder why English hasn't adopted them yet. For the latest Local List, we've chosen ten linguistic gems that would make the English language better. https://www.thelocal.es/20130805/ten-spanish-words-the-english-language-needs Mon, 05 Aug 2013 20:39:00 +0200 ten-spanish-words-the-english-language-needs A new report has revealed that although Spain lags behind the rest of Europe in overall internet use, its citizens are the continent's most enthusiastic fans of services like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. https://www.thelocal.es/20130711/spain-tops-charts-for-online-chat Thu, 11 Jul 2013 13:05:00 +0200 spain-tops-charts-for-online-chat The Spanish words 'wasap' and 'wasapear' — both variants of the name of WhatsApp, the popular instant messaging service for smartphones — have been given the backing of one of Spain's language heavyweights. https://www.thelocal.es/20130701/spain-rings-in-new-words-wasap-and-guasap Mon, 01 Jul 2013 20:35:00 +0200 spain-rings-in-new-words-wasap-and-guasap A new survey shows that the popular instant messaging service WhatsApp is being increasingly used by Spaniards to break up with their short-term partners. https://www.thelocal.es/20130529/spanish-switch-to-whatsapp-to-dump-lovers Wed, 29 May 2013 12:19:00 +0200 spanish-switch-to-whatsapp-to-dump-lovers A young man from Galicia could face three years behind bars for threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend over the popular messaging service Whatsapp. https://www.thelocal.es/20130416/whatsapp Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:21:00 +0200 whatsapp