Meta Hit with Record Fine for Breaching EU User Data Confidentiality

European regulators have imposed a record fine of 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) on META (formerly Facebook) for transmitting users’ personal data from the European Union (EU) to the United States.

The decision is related to the case of Austrian activist Max Schrem who sought to protect data privacy rights. Schrem argued that the data transfer mechanism from the EU to the US was inadequate and didn’t protect Europeans from American surveillance.

The Irish Data Protection Commission, which oversees META activities in the EU, stated the company violated General EU Regulations for Data Protection (GDPR) by continuing to transfer Europeans’ personal data to the US after the European Court’s 2020 ruling.

META utilized a mechanism called Standard Contractual Conditions to transmit personal data inside and outside the EU, which, however, failed to take into account the basic rights and freedoms of data subjects identified by the European Court of Justice.

In light of this, the Irish Data Protection Commission demanded that META suspend any personal data transfer to the US within five months of the decision.

This penalty is the biggest in GDPR history, with the previous record amounting to $746 million imposed on Amazon in 2021. META has announced it will be appealing the decision and fine.

The META case has drawn attention to the need for new data transmission mechanisms between the EU and the US. While the parties agreed on new rules for cross-border data transfer last year, the new agreement has yet to take effect.

META hopes that a new agreement will be reached before the Irish regulator’s stipulated five-month period elapses and avoid paying such a steep fine due to legal inconsistencies.

*META and its products (Instagram and Facebook) are considered extremist and are prohibited in the Russian Federation.