Meta, the social media company led by Mark Zuckerberg, has been hit with a staggering fine of €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) by European Union (EU) regulators for the unauthorized transfer of personal data belonging to Facebook’s EU users to servers located in the United States.
The European Data Protection Board made the announcement on Monday, revealing that the fine was a result of an investigation into Facebook conducted by the Irish Data Protection Commission, which acts as the primary regulator overseeing Meta’s operations in Europe.
This penalty stands as the largest ever imposed under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which serves as the region’s flagship legislation for data privacy. Additionally, Meta has been ordered to halt the processing of personal data belonging to European users in the United States within a six-month timeframe.
The severity of Meta’s violation is evident as it involves systematic, repetitive, and continuous transfers, according to Andrea Jelinek, Chair of the European Data Protection Board. With Facebook boasting millions of users in Europe, the scale of personal data transferred is staggering. This unprecedented fine serves as a powerful warning to organizations, underlining the far-reaching consequences of serious infringements, Jelinek stated.
Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp and Instagram, has expressed its intention to appeal the ruling, including the hefty fine. The company emphasized that there would be no immediate disruption to Facebook’s operations in Europe.
Meta attributes the core issue to a “conflict of law” between US regulations pertaining to data access and the privacy rights of European individuals. The company points out that policymakers in the EU and the US have been actively working toward resolving this conflict through the establishment of a new transatlantic Data Privacy Framework.
In response to the fine, Meta’s President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, and Chief Legal Officer, Jennifer Newstead, criticized the European Data Protection Board for dismissing the progress made by policymakers in resolving the underlying issue. The executives described the decision as flawed, unjustified, and a dangerous precedent that could impact numerous other companies engaged in data transfers between the EU and the US.
Clegg and Newstead stressed the importance of data transfers across borders, highlighting their fundamental role in the functioning of the global open internet. They emphasized that the ability to transfer data between the EU and the US is vital for thousands of businesses and organizations, enabling them to operate and provide essential services that people rely on daily.
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