Current:Home > ContactEuropean watchdog fines Meta $1.3 billion over privacy violations -Prosperity Pathways
European watchdog fines Meta $1.3 billion over privacy violations
View
Date:2025-04-17 21:24:39
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! (8748)
Related
- Bill Belichick's salary at North Carolina: School releases football coach's contract details
- Speaker McCarthy says there’s still time to prevent a government shutdown as others look at options
- Guatemalans rally on behalf of president-elect, demonstrating a will to defend democracy
- Still there: Alzheimer's has ravaged his mother's memory, but music brings her back
- IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
- Chinese officials voice faith in economy and keep interest rates steady as forecasts darken
- South Korean lawmakers vote to lift opposition leader’s immunity against arrest
- In Kentucky governor’s race, Democrat presses the case on GOP challenger’s abortion stance
- Romantasy reigns on spicy BookTok: Recommendations from the internet’s favorite genre
- Smoke, air quality alerts descend on San Francisco Bay Area. A study explains why.
Ranking
- Man can't find second winning lottery ticket, sues over $394 million jackpot, lawsuit says
- T-Squared: Tiger Woods, Justin Timberlake open a New York City sports bar together
- Julie Chen Moonves Accuses 2 Former The Talk Cohosts of Pushing Her Off Show
- Fan who died after Patriots game had 'medical issue', not traumatic injuries, autopsy shows
- 'We're reborn!' Gazans express joy at returning home to north
- Gigi Hadid Gives Glimpse Into Birthday Celebrations for Her and Zayn Malik's 3-Year-Old Daughter Khai
- Exclusive clip: Oprah Winfrey talks Ozempic, being 'shamed in the tabloids' for weight
- Stock market today: Asian shares track Wall Street’s slump after Fed says rates may stay high in ’24
Recommendation
Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
First private US passenger rail line in 100 years is about to link Miami and Orlando at high speed
Lana Del Rey says she wishes her album went viral like Waffle House photos
Sophie Turner, Taylor Swift step out for girls night amid actress' divorce from Joe Jonas
Israel lets Palestinians go back to northern Gaza for first time in over a year as cease
Iconic Budweiser Clydesdales will no longer have their tails shortened
Kraft is recalling some American cheese slices over potential choking hazard
50 years ago today, one sporting event changed my life. In fact, it changed everything.