Meta has been fined a record $1.3 billion by the European Union for violating data transfer laws.
What happened. Facebook transferred the data of EU citizens to the US, in violation of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), according to the Irish Data Protection Commission. Meta’s European headquarters are located in Dublin.
What the ruling means for Meta. Meta has been given five months to stop future transfers of personal data to the US and six months to stop processing and storing EU/EEA users’ data in the US, it said. the sentence
Why we care If the ruling is enforced, Facebook would have to delete a large amount of data and restructure its IT systems at a very fundamental level. It would also have huge implications for any company that transfers data between the two areas.
Facebook only. The decision applies only to Facebook and not to other platforms owned by Meta (eg Instagram).
What Meta says. The company plans to appeal, Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, and Jennifer Newstead, its chief legal officer, he said in a statement:
“This decision is flawed, unjustified and sets a dangerous precedent for the countless companies that transfer data between the EU and the US”
A conflict of laws. The best hope for upholding the ruling is a new data transfer treaty between the US and the EU.
Until 2020, these transfers were protected by the Privacy Shield treaty between the two governments. That year, the EU’s top court invalidated the treaty, ruling that it did not sufficiently protect EU citizens’ data from US spy agencies.
Negotiations are underway since the high court ruling. Last year, President Biden and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Union, announced the outlines of a deal, but the details are still being worked out.
This decision may increase the pressure on the United States to do so. However, the complexity of the issues makes it difficult to move forward quickly.
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