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A record-breaking fine of €1.2B is levied against Meta by the EU

A record-breaking fine of €1.2B is levied against Meta by the EU

The tech giant unlawfully transferred Europeans’ data to the US, according to Ireland’s privacy regulator.

A record fine of €1.2 billion has been imposed on U.S. tech giant Meta for not complying with the EU’s privacy rules.

In a report released by the Irish Data Protection Commission on Monday, Meta was found to have violated the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by moving troves of Facebook user data to the United States without sufficiently protecting them from Washington’s data surveillance practices.

The fine is the largest under the EU’s flagship General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which is being enforced on May 25, the fifth anniversary of its implementation.

Amazon was previously fined €746 million by Luxembourg and the Irish regulator also imposed four fines against Meta’s platforms Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp ranging between €405 million and €225 million in the past two years.

Using standard contractual clauses (SCCs) to move data to the U.S., Meta violated the Irish privacy watchdog’s guidelines. As a result of a landmark ruling by the EU’s top court, Facebook’s European users’ fundamental rights and freedoms were not addressed.

It was in 2020 that the European Court of Justice struck down an EU-U.S. agreement on data flows, known as the Privacy Shield, because of U.S. intelligence services’ surveillance practices. Additionally, the top EU court tightened requirements to use SCCs, another legal tool used by companies to transfer personal data to the U.S.

It remained a legal instrument as European and American officials struggled to put together a new data flows arrangement and Meta lacked other legal mechanisms for transferring its personal data.

The EU and U.S. are working on a new data flow agreement that could be finalized by July or October. By October 12, Meta must stop using SCCs for transfers.

Without a proper alternative data flow agreement, Facebook and Instagram in Europe may be forced to shut down if forced to stop using SCCs.

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