The parent company of renowned social media platform Facebook, Meta was fined 1.2 billion euro ($1.3 billion) by the European Union for violating its data protection rules. The issue at hand is the way Facebook handled user data from Europe. The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced the results of its inquiry into Meta Ireland, stating that Facebook’s transfer of user data from Europe to the U.S. breached Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules.
The problem arises when Facebook takes personal data from its customers in the EU and transfers it to the U.S. This data can potentially be shared with U.S. intelligence services. A deal called the Privacy Shield used to allow the free transfer of EU user data to companies in the U.S. until 2020 when the EU’s Court of Justice determined that it did not adequately protect EU users’ data from U.S. surveillance.
Despite this, Facebook continued to transfer EU users’ personal data, triggering the inquiry by EU regulators.
With this fine, Facebook will hold the record for the biggest-ever fine handed by the EU, surpassing Amazon’s $886 million fine for a GDPR breach in 2021. Meta plans to appeal the decision.
