Other Technology | May 31, 2023
This is not the first time that Meta, the conglomerate that encompasses Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and others, has faced scrutiny regarding the privacy of our data. However, it has just received the largest privacy-related fine in history.
Specifically, Meta has been fined €1.2 billion, the largest European penalty for privacy violations. Let’s take a look at what Mark Zuckerberg and his team have done to warrant such a hefty fine.
The Irish Data Protection Office, where Meta has its European headquarters, has issued this verdict, ordering Meta to pay €1.2 billion. This case now holds the record for the largest European penalty for privacy violations, nearly doubling the €746 million fine imposed on Amazon in 2021 for similar reasons. In addition to the financial penalty, Meta has been instructed to “suspend the transfer of personal data of users from the EU to the United States,” with a deadline of five months for the company to comply.
It has been five years since the European data regulation was established, and Meta has consistently violated it by conducting continuous data transfers from the social network to the United States. These actions failed to address “the risks to the fundamental rights and freedoms” of individuals whose data was being transferred across the Atlantic, as stated in the decision of the Irish Data Protection Commission.
Mark Zuckerberg’s company has confirmed that it will appeal this decision, considering it an “unjustified and unnecessary” fine, as it believes there is a “fundamental conflict between US data access rules and European privacy rights.”
The company has had previous encounters with the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC). In January of this same year, Meta was fined €390 million for breaching data protection regulations in Ireland on these platforms. Now, the penalty is being enforced at a continental level.
Meta’s relationship with the European Union has been highly complicated, especially since the implementation of the new EU data protection regulations five years ago. Therefore, the data transfer ban on Meta was widely anticipated.
One year ago, in February 2022, in a document submitted by Mark Zuckerberg’s company to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company stated that “if a new framework for transatlantic data transfers is not adopted, and we cannot continue to rely on SCCs [standard contractual clauses] or other alternative means of transferring data from Europe to the US, we may not be able to offer several of our most important products and services, such as Facebook and Instagram, in Europe, which could negatively impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.”
However, the threat of completely withdrawing from our continent did not materialize, primarily because a new agreement between the European Union and the United States on data flows is expected to be operational by mid-year.
