Facebook parent company Meta must pay a fine of 390 million francs in Ireland for data protection violations. The Irish data protection authority DPC announced on Wednesday that the group had violated the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation with its platforms Facebook and Instagram.
Both cases concern personalized advertising and the way in which Meta collects and processes personal data from users. 210 million Swiss francs are due for the Facebook violation and 180 million Swiss francs for Instagram.
Complaints from Belgium and Austria about the working method came in as early as 2018 – the same day the EU General Data Protection Regulation came into force. Previously, Meta had changed its terms and conditions and their legal basis. The authority concluded that the company then urged its users to some extent to accept certain conditions, otherwise the services would no longer be useful to them.
The Irish authority also requires Meta to change its data processing practices within three months. (SDA)