Facebook owner Meta, along with other tech multinationals, is regulated in Ireland. File photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish TimesFacebook owner Meta has been hit with a record €1.2 billion fine for grave violations of EU privacy law over data transfers to the US, which were struck down by a European court ruling three years ago. This is a huge sum. But it is merely a blip when measured against the vast scale of Meta’s business: its profit in the first three months of 2023 was €5.26 billion.
Still, the rate at which Mark Zuckerberg’s company is racking up sanctions would be enough to break a smaller enterprise. The new fine brings total penalties against Meta to some €2.5 billion since a new data regime took force in 2018. This is real money for sure, although the reputational fallout from a succession of adverse findings may have a greater impact than the financial hit.
There are questions also for the Republic’s data protection commissioner, Helen Dixon, who is de facto chief data regulator for Europe As with previous penalties, Meta disputed the findings and resolved to make a court appeal. But the company has now been found on several occasions to have flouted Europe’s general data protection regulation , a body of law designed to toughen scrutiny over business exploitation of personal data. These are very serious findings.
For hundreds of millions of people who use wildly profitable Meta platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, this must raise questions as to what exactly happens with the data they and their children entrust to the company.