Meta, the parent company of Facebook, received a $1.3 billion fine for mismanaging user data. The fine was levied by the Data Protection Commission in Ireland, which oversees Meta’s operations in Europe. As per the Irish supervisory authority, Meta is also required to halt the transfer of user data from the EU to the US, but the transfer won’t be stopped immediately.
Meta Have Failed
Privacy rights groups have accused Facebook of mishandling its users’ personal data for years. Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor and whistleblower, revealed that American authorities have been collecting data through Facebook and Google. Experts believe that protecting user data in the United States has been an unsuccessful endeavour, and Meta has not been successful in this regard so far.
Meta Says Decision is Unjustified
Meta has conveyed its profound disappointment with regard to the decision, deeming it faulty and unwarranted. According to Facebook’s president Nick Clegg, the verdict will establish a hazardous precedent for various other companies that transfer data between the EU and the US.
Meta said it had been “singled out” by the DPC despite thousands of other businesses using the same data transfer processes.
“We are disappointed to have been singled out when using the same legal mechanism as thousands of other companies looking to provide services in Europe,” wrote Nick Clegg, the Meta president of global affairs, and Jennifer Newstead, the Meta chief legal officer, in a blog post on Monday.
