The European Union fined Meta a record $1.3 billion for violating its users’ privacy and demanded that it stop sending European user data to the United States by October.
According to a DPC statement on Monday, the amount issued by Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) for Meta’s continuing transfer of personal data exceeded the prior 746 million euro record EU privacy penalties by Luxembourg on Amazon in 2021.
Meta stated that it will challenge the decision and any “unjustified as well as unnecessary fine”, asking the courts to halt the orders. “This decision is flawed, unjustified and sets a dangerous precedent for the countless other companies transferring data between the EU and U.S.,” Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global and affairs, and Chief Legal Officer Jennifer Newstead said in a statement.
Facebook’s and Instagram’s holding company had previously warned that services for users in Europe could be cut off in case of a fine.
The ongoing dispute over Facebook’s data storage location started ten years ago when Austrian privacy advocate Max Schrems filed a lawsuit about the possibility of American surveillance in the wake of Edward Snowden’s revelations about the National Security Agency of the United States.
Last month, Meta stated that it anticipated a new agreement permitting the secure transfer of personal data of EU individuals to the United States will be completely implemented before it had to halt transfers.
According to its website, Meta operates a fleet of 21 data centers, however only 17 of them are located in the United States. Sweden, Denmark, and Ireland are all European countries that include three more. Singapore is home to another.
