Data protection: heavy fine of 265 million euros against Meta in the European Union


An investigation was opened in April 2021, after the revelation of a hack by hackers of the data of more than 530 million users dating back to 2019.

US social media giant Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has been fined a hefty €265 million by the Irish regulator (DPC) on behalf of the EU for failing to protect users sufficiently. user data. “The Data Protection Commission (DPC) announces (…) the conclusion of an investigation into Meta Platforms Ireland Limited», a subsidiary of Meta and «body that controls the data of the social network Facebook, imposing a fine of 265 million euros and a series of corrective measures”, according to a press release Monday.

The DPC announced in April 2021 the opening of an investigation targeting Facebook on behalf of the EU, after the revelation of a hack by hackers of the data of more than 530 million users dating back to 2019. survey focused on the applicationsFacebook Search, Facebook Messenger Contact Importer and Instagram Contact Importer (…) between May 25, 2018 and September 2019”, and wanted to know if Meta had protected the data of its users sufficiently with regard to European regulations.

Facebook has its European headquarters in Ireland and it is therefore up to the Irish regulator to lead the investigation for the European Union (EU). The decision to impose a fine on Meta and its affected subsidiaries was taken on Friday following findings “violations of European regulations (GDPR)“, Details the DPC. So she issued aorder asking MPIL for a series of corrective actionsand an administrative fine.

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Looting profiles

The hack had used a method known as “scrapingor looting Facebook profiles through software mimicking the network’s functionality that helps members easily find friends, scraping contact lists. “Protecting people’s personal data is essential to how our business operates“Reacted a spokesperson for Meta. “We have therefore cooperated fully with the Data Protection Commission on this important issue. We have made changes to our systems“, he added.

The GDPR, launched in 2018, gives regulators more power to protect consumers from the dominance of Facebook, Google, Apple and Twitter, which, attracted by favorable taxation, have chosen Ireland as their home base. The settlement provides that regulators can impose a fine of up to 4% of the global turnover of these groups.

In the case of Facebook, the hacked data in question was partly published on a hacker forum in early April and is the work of “malicious actors“, had explained Facebook. The European Union and certain member countries have multiplied in recent years the disputes with the American digital giants on the protection of personal data but also on taxation, or abuse of a dominant position, among others.

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