Ireland Fines Meta €265-M Over Data Breach

Ireland's data regulator on Monday (early Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022, in Manila) slapped Facebook owner Meta with a 265-million-euro ($275-million) fine after details of more than 500 million users were leaked on a hacking website, Reuters reported.

Photo Insert: The watchdog found the social media behemoth led by Mark Zuckerberg had breached two articles of the EU's data protection laws.

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) said the verdict was issued following a "comprehensive inquiry process, including cooperation with all of the other data protection supervisory authorities within the European Union (EU."

Meta's European operations are based in Dublin, along with a number of other major global tech companies including Google, Apple and Twitter. Ireland's data protection agency is the lead regulator responsible for holding them to account.

The watchdog found the social media behemoth led by Mark Zuckerberg had breached two articles of the EU's data protection laws.

In addition to the fine, the DPC said it had "imposed a reprimand and an order" requiring the Facebook owner to "bring its processing into compliance by taking a range of specified remedial actions within a particular time frame."

The Irish watchdog launched its probe in April 2021 to determine whether the EU-wide General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) charter on data rights and the corresponding Irish legislation had been infringed. Under the GDPR, which came into effect in 2018, social media users have a wider range of rights relating to their data.

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