US social media giant Meta was fined nearly $1.3 billion on Monday for violating EU data protection rules on Facebook.
According to the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), Meta was convicted of “continuing to transfer personal data” of Facebook users from the European Economic Area to the United States.
It acts on behalf of the European Union, overseeing the application of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as the American conglomerate has its European headquarters in Ireland.
The Irish Data Protection Commission said it also aimed to “suspend all transfers of personal data to the United States of America within five months” from being informed of the decision and to comply with the GDPR within six months.
The fine, which is the highest ever imposed by a data protection regulator in Europe, is the result of a tough investigation launched in 2020.
For its part, Meta has described the fine as “unfair and unnecessary” and will act before the courts to try to have it suspended, the social media giant responded in a statement.
“Thousands of companies and organizations depend on the ability to transfer data between the EU and the United States,” Vishal continued, and “there is a fundamental legal conflict between US government regulations on access to data and European privacy rights.”
It also expects the United States and the European Union to adopt a new legal framework for the transfer of personal data in the coming months, following an agreement in principle last year.
