Meta has been hit with a record-breaking $1.3 billion fine (\u20ac1.2 billion) by EU data regulators, and ordered to stop transferring the Facebook data of EU citizens to the US. EU courts believe such data transfers expose EU citizens to privacy violations \u2014 a complaint that stems back to 2013 and revelations by whistleblower Edward Snowden about US mass surveillance programs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The ruling was made by Ireland\u2019s Data Protection Commission (DPC), which said that that the current legal framework for data transfers to the US \u201cdid not address the risks to the fundamental rights and freedoms\u201d of Facebook\u2019s EU users and violated GDPR. The fine exceeds the previous EU record of \u20ac746 million levied against Amazon in 2021 for similar privacy violations<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Transferring data to the US is critical for Meta\u2019s vast ad-targeting operation, which relies on processing multiple streams of personal data from its users. Last year, Meta said it would be forced to consider shutting down<\/a> Facebook and Instagram in the EU it wasn\u2019t able to send data back to the US; a warning EU politicians saw as an obvious threat. \u201cMeta cannot just blackmail the EU into giving up its data protection standards,\u201d replied<\/a> EU lawmaker Axel Voss to the news. \u201cLeaving the EU would be their loss.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Previously, these data transfers were protected by a transatlantic pact known as the Privacy Shield. But this framework was declared invalid in 2020<\/a> after the EU\u2019s top court found that it did not protect data from being scraped by US surveillance programs. This ruling was given in response to a claim by Austrian lawyer Max Schrems, whose legal battle against Facebook dates back to 2013 and the original Snowden revelations of US surveillance. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Although Meta has now been ordered to stop these data transfers, there are a number of caveats that benefit the US social media giant. First, the ruling only applies to data from Facebook,\u00a0not other Meta companies like Instagram and WhatsApp. Second, there\u2019s a five-month grace period before Meta has to stop future transfers, and a six-month deadline to stop holding current data in the US. Third, and most important, the EU and US are currently negotiating a new<\/em> deal to transfer data <\/a>that could be in place as early as this summer and as late as October. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Despite the record-breaking size of the fine, experts expressed doubt that it will change anything fundamental about Meta\u2019s privacy practices. \u201cA billion-euro parking ticket is of no consequence to a company that earns many more billions by parking illegally,\u201d Johnny Ryan, a senior fellow at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, told The Guardian<\/em><\/a> this weekend. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Others were more triumphant. \u201cWe are happy to see this decision after ten years of litigation,\u201d said Schrems, whose 2013 legal challenge is the origin of today\u2019s ruling, in a press release<\/a>. \u201cThe fine could have been much higher, given that the maximum fine is more than 4 billion and Meta has knowingly broken the law to make a profit for ten years.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n