Photo: ANP
The standard fine on Meta platforms for violating privacy rules “shows what we as privacy regulators in Europe can do together”. This is what Aled Wolfsen, Head of the Dutch Data Protection Authority and also Vice-President of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), said.
Metta was fined $1.3 billion, the equivalent of €1.2 billion. Facebook’s parent company had redirected users’ data to the United States, without ensuring their privacy was guaranteed there. The American group was instructed to put an end to this.
The fine has been agreed within the EDPB, with all of the EU’s national privacy regulators working together. “Thanks in part to the contribution of the Dutch Data Protection Authority to the EDPB, our Irish colleagues have reached their highest ever GDP fine,” says Wolfsen. Since Meta is headquartered in Dublin, Irish data watchdog DPC imposed the fine.
“Big tech companies have a huge responsibility to handle their users’ personal data properly,” says Wolfsen. “With European privacy law in hand, we can enforce this.” Meta has already indicated that it will appeal against the fine, which the group says is “unnecessary”.
