Another unpleasant story has hit the Meta company. This time it was found in violation of European privacy rules. Therefore, the Irish Data Protection Commission imposed a hefty fine on the social media giant.
For this reason, the parent company of Facebook will have to pay a considerable €265 million ($275 million) fine. Meta will also have to take measures to remedy the situation and protect user data. It was the subject of a ruling by the Irish Data Protection Commission that was issued Monday at the end of a year-and-a-half-long investigation.
The meth company was investigated after a vast library of Facebook users’ data was posted online. After examining Facebook Search, Facebook Messenger Contact Importer, and Instagram Contact Importer tools, experts concluded that Meta had not fully met its obligation to protect personal data.
The Irish privacy watchdog will see that Meta follows the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force in 2018, because, like many other Silicon Valley tech giants, Meta has decided to locate its European headquarters there. This provision should provide users with one of the most robust privacy protections in the world. He suggests that if the company keeps more data than necessary, it would be a breach and could lead to huge fines and other problems.
As I mentioned earlier, this is not the first problem Meta has had with the law. In September 2021, the DPC fined Meta for its messaging service, WhatsApp, for failing to explain how it uses its data correctly. In addition, the DPC is looking into other potential violations by Meta. So far, however, the company has been fined a hefty sum, the company announced this week.
“Protecting people’s privacy and data security is fundamental to our business,” a Meta spokesman said. He also said Meta has already made changes, according to the DPC investigation. This should prevent data scraping, including phone numbers. “Unauthorized data scraping is unacceptable,” he said, adding that Meta is carefully reviewing the DPC’s decision.
