Meta to be fined more than 746 million euros by EU data regulator for data misuse
Christopher Hutton
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Facebook parent company Meta is set to be fined more than 746 million euros ($888 million), the largest fine filed against a Big Tech company.
The social platform giant will be issued the fine by the Irish Data Protection Commission, which protects Irish privacy rights under the laws of the European Union, according to Bloomberg. The commission found that Meta was unable to abide by a court order designed to protect European user data from security entities in the United States. The DPC will also restrict all data transfers that rely on contractual clauses.
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The fine is the latest and largest fine for Meta to date. The previous biggest Big Tech fine was levied on Amazon. A European data protection regulator fined Amazon 746 million euros in July 2021 due to its violation of the EU’s data protection rules.
The ban will only affect Facebook and not Meta’s other operations, people involved in the matter said. Meta is expected to appeal the fines, which will take several years. The appeal could also be affected by a new data pact between the U.S. and the EU.
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The decision was adopted by the DPC last week, the regulator’s deputy commissioner said, but it will not be published until Meta gets a chance to highlight sensitive data.
Meta has been the target of the DPC for regulatory breaches for more than a year. The Big Tech giant has been fined by the DPC for more than $1 billion since the fall of 2021. This includes fines addressing Instagram’s handling of children’s data and its inability to stop hackers from stealing user data.