Meta suffers largest fine in history, EU data protection issues once again draw attention

On May 23, according to foreign media reports, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced a record-breaking fine against meta (formerly Facebook), amounting to US$1.3 billion (approximately (1.2 billion euros) and asked it to stop transferring EU user data to the United States.

This fine is the largest fine since the implementation of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), exceeding the previous record of 746 million euros fined by Amazon in 2021. The Irish Data Protection Commission said that meta breached the legal framework for data transfers, which breached data protection regulations applicable to the EU, failed to address the risks faced by Facebook users in Europe and infringed on users' fundamental rights. and freedom.

It is reported that in 2020, the European Court of Justice abolished the Privacy Shield mechanism previously used to legally transfer data. However, despite the court's ruling taking effect, Me#ta continued to send data to the United States, ignoring relevant regulations.

According to ITBEAR Technology Information, in addition to the huge fine, the Irish Data Protection Commission also ordered meta to stop transferring relevant personal data to the United States within 5 months after receiving the decision notice. and cease processing (including storage) of the transferred personal data in the United States within 6 months. It is worth noting that Instagram and WhatsApp owned by meta are not subject to this ban.

Regarding this decision, meta has stated that it will appeal and request the court to immediately suspend the implementation of the decision. They challenged the ruling of the Irish Data Protection Commission and wanted to be able to continue the data transfer and processing.

This decision to impose high fines on meta and restrict data transfer further highlights the importance and urgency of data protection on a global scale. Regulators in various countries are increasingly paying attention to the compliance of large technology companies when processing user data to ensure that user privacy and data security are effectively protected. This also reminds other technology companies that they should abide by relevant laws and regulations, respect user privacy, and strengthen data protection measures.

As this incident develops, the industry will continue to pay close attention to meta’s appeal and follow-up actions, as well as the impact and changes of data protection issues on a global scale.

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