Meta was fined a record 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) by the European Union's top privacy authority for its management of user data and given five months to halt transmitting customers' data to the US.
The sanction was enforced by Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) as Meta continued to send data after an EU court judgment in 2020 nullified an EU-US data transfer agreement. It exceeds the previous EU privacy penalties record of 746 million euros imposed by Luxembourg on Amazon.com Inc in 2021.
...The debate over where Meta's Facebook stores its data began a decade ago when Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems filed a judicial challenge about the possibility of US surveillance in light of revelations by former US National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.
In a statement, Meta stated that it will challenge the verdict, citing the "unjustified and unnecessary fine," which it claims "sets a dangerous precedent for countless other companies." It will also ask the courts to stay the suspension orders.
The social media giant maintained that it expected a new accord easing the secure flow of personal data from EU residents to the US to be fully implemented before suspending transfers.
That means the company's prior warning that a strike would compel it to shut down Facebook services in Europe will not come true.
"Without the ability to transfer data across borders, the internet risks being carved up into national and regional silos," Meta said.
According to the DPC, EU and US officials anticipated in March that the new data protection framework, which was agreed upon by Brussels and Washington in March 2022, would be available by July.
The European Court of Justice invalidated the two earlier treaties due to concerns about US spying.
Schrems, an Austrian privacy activist, believes Meta's plans to rely on the new contract for future transfers are unlikely to be lasting.
"In my opinion, the new agreement has a 10% chance of being approved by the CJEU (EU Court of Justice)." Unless and until US surveillance rules are changed, Meta will most likely be forced to store EU data in the EU," he stated in a statement.
Because many of the world's biggest IT businesses have their European headquarters in Ireland, the Irish watchdog has stated that the suspension decision might set a precedent for other corporations.
It has now penalized Meta a total of 2.5 billion euros for violations of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which went into effect in 2018.
The DPC stated that it did not intend to include punishment in the suspension order at first, but four other EU supervising agencies disagreed, and the record fine was added following a judgment by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB).
The Irish regulator has fined Meta the most of any digital corporation and has opened ten other investigations into the social media group's platforms.
($1 = 0.9084 euros)
source(yahoo)
The sanction was enforced by Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) as Meta continued to send data after an EU court judgment in 2020 nullified an EU-US data transfer agreement. It exceeds the previous EU privacy penalties record of 746 million euros imposed by Luxembourg on Amazon.com Inc in 2021.
...The debate over where Meta's Facebook stores its data began a decade ago when Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems filed a judicial challenge about the possibility of US surveillance in light of revelations by former US National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.
In a statement, Meta stated that it will challenge the verdict, citing the "unjustified and unnecessary fine," which it claims "sets a dangerous precedent for countless other companies." It will also ask the courts to stay the suspension orders.
The social media giant maintained that it expected a new accord easing the secure flow of personal data from EU residents to the US to be fully implemented before suspending transfers.
That means the company's prior warning that a strike would compel it to shut down Facebook services in Europe will not come true.
"Without the ability to transfer data across borders, the internet risks being carved up into national and regional silos," Meta said.
According to the DPC, EU and US officials anticipated in March that the new data protection framework, which was agreed upon by Brussels and Washington in March 2022, would be available by July.
The European Court of Justice invalidated the two earlier treaties due to concerns about US spying.
Schrems, an Austrian privacy activist, believes Meta's plans to rely on the new contract for future transfers are unlikely to be lasting.
"In my opinion, the new agreement has a 10% chance of being approved by the CJEU (EU Court of Justice)." Unless and until US surveillance rules are changed, Meta will most likely be forced to store EU data in the EU," he stated in a statement.
Because many of the world's biggest IT businesses have their European headquarters in Ireland, the Irish watchdog has stated that the suspension decision might set a precedent for other corporations.
It has now penalized Meta a total of 2.5 billion euros for violations of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which went into effect in 2018.
The DPC stated that it did not intend to include punishment in the suspension order at first, but four other EU supervising agencies disagreed, and the record fine was added following a judgment by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB).
The Irish regulator has fined Meta the most of any digital corporation and has opened ten other investigations into the social media group's platforms.
($1 = 0.9084 euros)
source(yahoo)
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