Current:Home > FinanceEuropean watchdog fines Meta $1.3 billion over privacy violations-LoTradeCoin
European watchdog fines Meta $1.3 billion over privacy violations
View Date:2024-12-24 00:30:49
Tech giant Meta must pay a record 1.2 billion euros — nearly $1.3 billion — for breaching European Union privacy laws.
Meta, which owns Facebook, had continued to transfer user data from countries in the European Union and the European Economic Area to the United States despite being suspended from doing so in 2021, an investigation by Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) found.
The unprecedented penalty from the European Data Protection Board, announced on Monday, is intended to send a strong signal to organizations "that serious infringements have far-reaching consequences," the regulator's chair, Andrea Jelinek, said in a statement.
Meta, which also owns WhatsApp and Instagram, plans to appeal the ruling and will seek to suspend the case from proceeding in court.
"This decision is flawed, unjustified and sets a dangerous precedent for the countless other companies transferring data between the EU and U.S.," President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg and Chief Legal Officer Jennifer Newstead said in a statement.
The privacy battle between Meta and EU courts began when an Austrian privacy activist won a decade-long lawsuit to invalidate a U.S.-E.U. data-moving pact.
Known as Privacy Shield, that agreement had allowed Facebook and other companies to transfer data between the two regions. It was struck down in 2020.
The DPC has also ordered Meta suspend all future data transfers within the next five months and make compliant all European data currently stored in the U.S. within the next six months. That's information including photos, friend connections, direct messages and data collected for targeted advertising.
The U.S. and the EU are currently negotiating a new data-moving agreement, called the Data Privacy Framework, and they are expected to reach a deal this summer. If that agreement is inked before the DPC's deadlines expire, "services can continue as they do today without any disruption or impact on users," Meta said in its statement.
DPC's fine on Meta is the largest penalty imposed by a European regulator on a tech company since the EU slapped Amazon with a 746 million euro fine in 2021.
The European Court of Justice has said the risk of U.S. snooping violates the fundamental rights of European users. And regulators say Meta has failed to sufficiently protect data from American spy agencies and advertisers.
There is currently no disruption to Facebook in Europe, Meta said in the statement.
veryGood! (87)
Related
- Elton John Details Strict Diet in His 70s
- Federal Courts Help Biden Quickly Dismantle Trump’s Climate and Environmental Legacy
- Two Years Ago, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Was Praised for Appointing Science and Resilience Officers. Now, Both Posts Are Vacant.
- Power Plants on Indian Reservations Get No Break on Emissions Rules
- RHOBH's Erika Jayne Reveals Which Team She's on Amid Kyle Richards, Dorit Kemsley Feud
- Jackie Miller James' Sister Shares Update After Influencer's Aneurysm Rupture
- Climate Activists Converge on Washington With a Gift and a Warning for Biden and World Leaders
- They're gnot gnats! Swarms of aphids in NYC bugging New Yorkers
- Businesses at struggling corner where George Floyd was killed sue Minneapolis
- In Detroit, Fighting Hopelessness With a Climate Plan
Ranking
- Louisiana asks court to block part of ruling against Ten Commandments in classrooms
- New Details About Kim Cattrall’s And Just Like That Scene Revealed
- Gigi Hadid Spotted at Same London Restaurant as Leonardo DiCaprio and His Parents
- Vanessa and Nick Lachey Taking Much Needed Family Time With Their 3 Kids
- American arrested in death of another American at luxury hotel in Ireland
- At Flint Debate, Clinton and Sanders Avoid Talk of Environmental Racism
- General Hospital's Jack and Kristina Wagner Honor Son Harrison on First Anniversary of His Death
- McConnell’s Record on Coal Has Become a Hot Topic in His Senate Campaign
Recommendation
-
South Carolina to take a break from executions for the holidays
-
Vanderpump Rules Reunion: Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss' Affair Comes to a Shocking Conclusion
-
Hunter Biden attorney accuses House GOP lawmakers of trying to derail plea agreement
-
South Dakota Backs Off Harsh New Protest Law and ‘Riot-Boosting’ Penalties
-
Stock market today: Asian stocks dip as Wall Street momentum slows with cooling Trump trade
-
Wednesday's Percy Hynes White Denies Baseless, Harmful Misconduct Accusations
-
This week on Sunday Morning (July 2)
-
Vanderpump Rules' Lala Kent’s Affordable Amazon Haul is So Chic You’d Never “Send it to Darrell