Meta has been hit with a €1.2bn fine by the EU and ordered to suspend transfers of user data to the US, in the largest penalty to be imposed against a Big Tech firm in the bloc over privacy violations.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, which oversees the General Data Protection Regulation, on Monday handed down the fine for Meta, saying that Facebook had violated its rules requiring platforms to ensure data transfers from Europe to the US had appropriate safeguards in place.
Instead, the DPC found that the platform’s EU-US data flows had relied on contractual clauses that “did not address the risks to the fundamental rights and freedoms” of users.
Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, said: “ We are . . . disappointed to have been singled out when using the same legal mechanism as thousands of other companies looking to provide services in Europe.”
