Ireland’s Data Privacy Commissioner (DPC) imposed a fine of 265 million euros equivalent to US$277 million on Facebook on November 28, 2022. In fact, this brings the total DPC has fined parent group, Meta, up to almost 1 billion euros. This penalty is a result of DPC’s investigation into the discovery of a set of personal data made available online by Facebook between May 2018 and September 2019.
The investigation started in April 2021 and Meta said that it had fully cooperated with DPC’s investigation and made the necessary changes to its algorithm during the period in question. In fact, Facebook had even removed the ability to scrape its features using phone numbers.
This is the 4th fine DPC levied against a company in the Meta Group. It’s the lead privacy regulator of Meta within the European Union and has another 13 outstanding inquiries against the social media group. In September 2022, DPC pounced on Instagram – a subsidiary of Meta – with a record fine of 405 million euros, and the group is planning to appeal the verdict.
On the other hand, DPC also regulates Google, Tiktok, Apple, and other technology companies due to the location of their EU headquarters in Ireland. In fact, there are currently more than 40 inquiries open into these firms. DPC issued a statement saying that other EU regulators have agreed with the decision made on Monday.
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