The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has imposed a fine of 1,200 million euros to Meta for violating the privacy of its users through its social network Facebook. It’s about the heavier financial penalty imposed on the European Union to a multinational for violations related to data protection, after the fine of 746 million that Amazon received in 2021. The DPC has indicated this Monday in a statement that it has ordered Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, to suspend the transfer of personal data of users from the EU to the United Statesfor which technology has a five month period.
The Irish authorities, who had begun the investigation in August 2020, they concluded that the data transfers by the multinational were carried out in violation of article 46 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), considering that, in these circumstances, data transfers should be suspended.
According to the DPC, the company “continued to transfer personal data” from the EU to the US after the judgment issued in 2020 by the European Court of Justice on data protection following a lawsuit filed by the Austrian lawyer and activist Maximilian Schrems.
For its part, Meta has advanced in a statement that will appeal the decision of the Irish authority, “including the unjustified and unnecessary fine”, while specifying that it will request “the suspension of the orders through the courts”.
The technology company has assured that it feels “signaled” and “disappointed” and has claimed that it uses the same legal tools as “thousands” of other companies in the sector that operate in Europe. “This decision is flawed, unjustified and sets a dangerous precedent for the countless companies that transfer data between the EU and the US,” he concluded.
