Tech giant Meta fined by EU privacy watchdog over user data transfers to US
ALBAWABA – Tech giant Meta company was slammed with a record $1.3 billion fine by European privacy regulators, CNBC reported Monday.
Meta was fined for breaching the European Union (EU)’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), according to Ireland’s Data Protection Commission.
The case was brought to the attention of Ireland’s Data Protection Commission by Austrian privacy campaigner Max Schrems in 2013.
Schrems’ case is based on findings from Edward Snowden’s revelations in the same year.
His main argument is that the framework for transferring European Union (EU) citizen data to America did not protect them against surveillance by the United States (US).
This, according to the Data Protection Commission, is a breach of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Several mechanisms to facilitate the legal transfer of personal data between the US and the EU were proposed. But they were all contested by EU authorities, CNBC said.
The latest being Privacy Shield, which was struck down by the European Court of Justice in 2020.
Meta was instructed to “suspend any future transfer of personal data to the US within the period of five months”, right after the court ruling, CNBC highlighted. But Meta continued to send the personal data of European citizens to the US despite the 2020 court ruling, the watchdog claimed.
According to CNBC, Meta did not use any of the frameworks that were rejected by EU authorities.
Instead, the company used a mechanism called standard contractual clauses to transfer personal data in and out of the EU.
This mechanism was not blocked by any court of the EU, CNBC confirmed.
In fact, they were adopted by the European Commission, along with several other measures implemented by Meta in the EU.
Nonetheless, the Irish privacy watchdog argued in a statement on Sunday that these clauses are not sufficient.
These arrangements adopted by the European Commission “did not address the risks to the fundamental rights and freedoms of data subjects that were identified” by the European Court of Justice, the data protection commission said.
Meta to appeal – CNBC
In a blog post on Monday, Meta’s top legal and global affairs officers announced that the company is going to appeal the watchdog’s decision.
“We are appealing these decisions and will immediately seek a stay with the courts who can pause the implementation deadlines,” CNBC quoted Meta’s Nick Clegg and Jennifer Newstead saying.
Clegg is president of global affairs and Newstead is the chief legal officer at the company.
The top officers argued that this decision will harm the millions of people who use Facebook every day, news outlets reported.
