Personal data: Meta imposes record fine of $1.8 billion in Europe

The Irish regulator fined Meta a record $1.8 billion (1.2 billion euros) on Monday for violating European data protection rules (GDPR) with its social network Facebook.

Meta, which intends to appeal, was condemned for continuing to transfer users’ personal data from the European Economic Area (EEA) to the United States in violation of European rules on the matter, the Irish Data Protection Commission indicated in its decision. (DPC), which acts on behalf of the EU.

Meta must “cease the transfer of personal data to the United States within five months” of notification of this decision and comply with the GDPR within six months, the DPC added.

The restrictions, the most imposed by a data protection regulator in Europe, were the result of an investigation launched in 2020, the DPC told AFP.

Meta calls the fine “unfair and unnecessary” and seeks legal action to suspend it, the social media giant responded Monday in a statement immediately sent to AFP.

“Thousands of businesses and organizations rely on the ability to transfer data between the EU and the US” and “there is a fundamental rights conflict between US government regulations on access to data and European privacy rights”, the Californian giant continues.

Meta expects the United States and the European Union to adopt a new legal framework for the transfer of personal data by the summer, after an agreement in principle was approved last year.

It is the third fine imposed on Meta since the start of the year in the EU and the fourth in six months.

In January, DPC fined the group a hefty fine of around 400 million euros for crimes over the use of personal data for advertising purposes targeting Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp applications, and then, in March, 5.5 million euros for violating the GDPR. WhatsApp message.

Since then, Meta has committed to changing its terms of use in Europe to continue collecting and processing the personal data of its European users.

The sanctions come in the context of strengthening controls and legal mechanisms in the United States, not just in the European Union, but against recent actions against GAFA (Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple) and Chinese giant TikTok.

In 2021, Amazon was fined 746 million euros, specifically in Luxembourg, for non-compliance with the GDPR.