Facebook owner Meta fined record €1.2bn over EU-US data transfer

Meta has been fined €1.2 billion by the European Union and ordered to suspend transfers of user data to the US, in the biggest penalty ever imposed against a Big Tech company in the bloc over privacy breaches .

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, which oversees the General Data Protection Regulation, imposed a fine on Meta on Monday, saying Facebook violated its rules requiring the platform to ensure data transfers from Europe to the US. Yes, which has proper security measures.

Instead, the DPC found that the platform’s EU-US data flow relied on contractual clauses that “did not address risks to the fundamental rights and freedoms” of users, despite an earlier ruling by the Court of Justice of the EU that it could be better protected. does. Individual information from invasive US surveillance programs.

Record EU fines over privacy breaches after Luxembourg regulator imposes €746mn ban on Amazon in 2021.

According to the DPC, Facebook’s EU operations have five months to “suspend any future transfer of personal data to the US” and six to stop the processing, including storage, of personal information of any European citizens in the US. is the time of the month, which was previously shifted. In violation of the GDPR.

Nick Clegg, Meta’s President of Global Affairs, said: “We are. , , Frustrated at being left out when using the same legal mechanism as thousands of other companies seeking to provide services in Europe.

He added: “This decision is flawed, unfair and sets a dangerous precedent for the countless other companies that transfer data between the EU and the US.”

The fine comes as Meta, which has a market capitalization of $630 billion, is battling an advertising slump amid a macroeconomic downturn, prompting chief executive Mark Zuckerberg to conduct several rounds of lay-offs and deliver a “year of efficiency”. inspired to promise.

It is the latest in a string of global fines for the social media giant over lax privacy protections, including a $5 billion fine imposed by the Federal Trade Commission in 2019 in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Ireland’s regulator has criticized privacy activists and other data watchdogs on the block for a lack of ambition to go after big tech companies, either imposing fines that are seen as too small or not reporting cases in the first place. Let’s take

Officials in Ireland will probably point to this fine as the latest evidence of proper enforcement of the rules.

Social media platforms have been in limbo since a ruling by an EU court in 2020, which found that the previous EU-US privacy shield could not be relied upon by companies seeking to comply with the GDPR, as it was applicable to the US. Does not adequately protect user data from surveillance.

Meta last year threatened to pull out of the EU if Ireland’s data protection watchdog imposed restrictions on EU-US data flows, which would be seriously disruptive to its business.

The company is expected to appeal against the DPC’s decision, during which a new transatlantic privacy shield could come into force. In October 2022, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order detailing measures to be taken by the White House to comply with a new EU-US data privacy framework that is currently being negotiated.