Meta Fined �390M for EU Data Violations

Meta Fined €390M for EU Data Violations

Meta has been fined €390 million ($413 million) by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission for violating EU personal data laws on Facebook and Instagram.

The fines include €210 million for Facebook and €180 million for Instagram. According to the Irish regulator, Meta failed to meet its obligations regarding transparency and used the wrong legal basis for processing personal data for behavioral advertising. These rulings follow recent legally binding decisions related to the company’s handling of data on WhatsApp, with further rulings expected soon.

Meta, headquartered in Dublin for its European operations, expressed disagreement with the fines and announced plans to appeal. The company argued that its practices comply with GDPR and emphasized that the decisions relate only to the legal basis for certain advertising, not to preventing targeted ads altogether.

The fines follow several other sanctions against Meta in recent years, including:

• €265 million for exposing user data for over 500 million people in 2022.
• €405 million for Instagram’s handling of children’s data.
• €225 million for WhatsApp regarding transparency in data transfers.
• €60 million in France for misuse of internet cookies.
• A $5 billion U.S. federal fine in 2019 related to privacy controls after the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

While Meta’s multi-billion-dollar profits exceed the fines, the company has faced challenges from a global advertising downturn and stagnant user growth, recently announcing layoffs of over 11,000 employees following a $4.4 billion decline in third-quarter profits.