Meta fined a record $1.3 billion for mishandling user data

The fine is the largest penalty under Europe's data privacy law.

Social media companies know a lot about us.

Today, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission announced it was fining Meta a record $1.3 billion after failing to comply with Europe’s major data law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Meta transferred data collected from Facebook users in Europe to the company’s servers in the United States.

This ruling, which grants Meta a five month grace period to comply, would put a stop to these data transfers across the Atlantic. The order only applies to Facebook, however, and not the company’s other products, Instagram and WhatsApp. Meta has announced that it will appeal the decision and feels that it has been unfairly singled out for data-sharing practices used by many other companies. 

The EU’s GDPR is a model law for strong privacy protections, and today’s news marks the largest fine ever ordered for a GDPR violation. Meanwhile, both the United States and European Union are working to establish a new data-sharing pact that would provide legal protections for data sharing across international borders.

Also read: How to set the highest privacy settings on Facebook

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