Meta has been slapped with €390 million — about $414 million – fine for breaching EU personal data laws on Facebook and Instagram, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has said.
The DPC handed out two fines to Meta Platforms Ireland Limited. The first 210-million-euro fine was imposed on its Facebook service, while the company’s Instagram service was subject to a 180-million-euro fine.
A statement from the DPC said that Meta breached “its obligations in relation to transparency” and used an incorrect legal basis “for its processing of personal data for the purpose of behavioural advertising”.
Europe’s data regulator, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has been enforcing strict data protection rules targeting local and American tech companies.
Meta has been ordered to ensure that its data processing operations are compliant with EU laws within the next three months.
The company has been under investigation by European authorities since May 2018 when Facebook and Instagram users reported they were unable to access services without agreeing to the relevant “Terms of Service.”
In November 2022, Meta was fined €265 million by the DPC following a data breach which saw the personal details of hundreds of millions of Facebook users published online.
Company CEO Mark Zuckerberg, expressed disappointment with the ruling saying that he will appeal.
“The debate around legal bases has been ongoing for some time and businesses have faced a lack of regulatory certainty in this area,” the company said in a statement.
“We strongly believe our approach respects GDPR, and we’re therefore disappointed by these decisions and intend to appeal both the substance of the rulings and the fines.”
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