The Irish privacy authority has decided to impose a record fine of 1.2 billion euros on Meta for violating European privacy law. This was announced by the European Privacy Supervisor.
"We will appeal against the sentence and against the unjustified fine and ask for a suspension of the requests through the courts. There is no immediate interruption of Facebook in Europe, the decision includes implementation periods that will last until the end of this year": write Nick Clegg, President Global Affairs of Meta and Jennifer Newstead, Chief Legal Officer of Meta in an official post, commenting on the fine for violation of privacy decided by the Irish Authority.
The decision to apply the record fine to Meta, explains in a note, is the result of the investigation conducted on Facebook's activity by the Irish authority and the decision taken on April 13 by the EDPB. The fine, the highest ever imposed in this field, was imposed on Meta following the transfer of personal data to the United States in violation of EU provisions. The president of the EDPB, Andrea Jelinek, stressed that the violation committed by Meta is "very serious" since it concerns transfers of personal data "systematic, continuous and repetitive". Facebook, he added, "has millions of users in Europe and so the data transfer was huge. The unprecedented fine is a strong signal" to the infringers that "serious violations result in far-reaching consequences".
"This is not about a company's privacy practices - they add - there is a conflict of laws between the US government's rules on access to data and the European right to privacy, which policymakers should resolve in the summer. Thousands of businesses and organizations rely on the ability to transfer data between the EU and the US to operate and provide day-to-day services. Our priority is to ensure that our users, advertisers, customers and partners can continue to use Facebook while keeping their data safe. We intend to appeal both the substance of the decision and the demands, including the fine," Clegg and Newstead concluded in the official post.