European Union (EU) regulators on Wednesday fined Meta $414 million for privacy violations and barred the company from forcing users in the bloc to accept personalized ads based on online activity. their line.
According to NBC, the Irish Data Protection Commission has imposed two fines totaling EUR 390 million ($414 million) against two business models targeting Meta’s user data to serve ads. online report. Meta is also facing a third penalty issued later this month, targeting messaging service WhatsApp .
Since 2021, Meta has suffered four other fines for data privacy breaches in Europe, totaling more than $900 million. In addition to Meta, a series of other Silicon Valley companies are also constantly being brought to court in Europe.
The EUR 390 million fine that Ireland’s watchdog fined Meta includes EUR 210 million for breaching EU data privacy rules regarding Facebook and an additional EUR 180 million for Instagram-related breaches. The decision stems from complaints filed in May 2018 when the bloc’s privacy rules, GDPR, went into effect.
Previously, Meta relied on user consent to process their personal data in order to deliver personalized or behavioral advertisements, based on what users searched for online, their websites visit, or the video they clicked on. When the GDPR went into effect, the company had to change its handling of user data by adding a clause of service for advertising, forcing users to agree that their data could be used by the company. use. That violates EU privacy rules.
The Irish watchdog initially sided with Meta, however, they had to change their stance after being opposed by many in the EU’s Data Protection Regulatory Council. In its final decision, the Irish watchdog said Meta had no right to rely on a “contractual” legal basis for the distribution of behavioral ads on Facebook and Instagram.
“We strongly believe that our approach respects the GDPR and, therefore, we are disappointed by these decisions,” Meta said in a statement. The company also added that it will appeal both the content of the ruling and the fine.
