The European Union has imposed a record €1.2 billion fine on Meta, owner of Facebook, for transferring European citizens’ data to the United States, the Irish Data Protection Commission, the agency that monitors compliance with EU privacy regulations, announced.
The European Data Protection Agency is aware that Facebook has illegally stored data of European citizens on its servers in the United States for years. the Fine sets a record for privacybypassing the €746m penalty imposed on Amazon in 2021. In addition, the EU is giving Meta five months to stop sending data from its European users to the US and six months to delete any personal information it has previously transferred.
In March of last year, prof The European Union and the United States reached an agreement In the principles of the new framework to ensure the free transfer of personal data between the two blocs, as announced publicly by US President Joe Biden and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The transfer framework was suspended in 2020, when it was suspended The Court of Justice of the European Union annulled the agreement in force Because it was considered that the United States does not guarantee the privacy of European citizens’ data.
The Irish authority understands that the contractual provisions Meta uses to transfer data to the United States “do not address the risks to the fundamental rights and freedoms” of European Facebook users that this provision poses.
The agreement between the two blocs has not yet entered into force. Nick Clegg, Head of Global Affairs at Metaurged in his Intervention during the Fourth International Forum on Expansion Until this new framework comes into effect. “It frustrates me to see that they have not implemented the declared agreement,” he said. “You have to guarantee this flow of data.”
The penalty increases pressure on the US government To close the agreement that allows thousands of multinational companies to continue sending information from European users to the United States. According to Politico, a final agreement could be ready as early as July, though it could be delayed until the fall.
The goal has been reached Threatening to abandon its operations in the European Union If the two blocks do not reach an agreement to allow the transfer of data. The previous framework was overturned by European courts after a complaint against Facebook by Austrian Max Schrems, which sought to prevent data from European citizens from being sent to the US because US laws do not offer the same level of protection as European regulations. of data protection.
meta response
The American company confirmed that it will appeal both the penalty and the fine imposed and will request that the matter be suspended before the courts. He also noted that there would be no immediate outage for Facebook in Europe.
In a statement signed by Nick Clegg, the company said it used the contractual clauses with the conviction that this legal instrument complies with the requirements of the European Data Protection Regulation. “We will appeal and ask the courts to suspend filing deadlines, given the harm these orders could cause, including to the millions of people who use Facebook every day.”
