Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Meta: Facebook owner fined €1.2 billion for mishandling data

Meta: Facebook owner fined €1.2 billion for mishandling data

Facebook’s owner, Meta, has been fined €1.2 billion (£1 billion) for mishandling people’s data when transferring it between Europe and the United States.
Issued by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC), it is the largest fine imposed under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation privacy law.

GDPR sets out rules companies must follow to transfer user data outside of the EU. Meta says it will appeal against the “unjustified and unnecessary” ruling.

At the crux of this decision is the use of standard contractual clauses (SCCs) to move European Union data to the US.

These legal contracts, prepared by the European Commission, contain safeguards to ensure personal data continues to be protected when transferred outside Europe.

But there are concerns these data flows still expose Europeans to the US’s weaker privacy laws — and US intelligence could access the data.

This decision does not affect Facebook in the UK. The Information Commissioner’s Office told the BBC that the decision “does not apply in the UK” but said it had “noted the decision and will review the details in due course”.

Most large companies have complex webs of data transfers - which can include email addresses, phone numbers and financial information - to overseas recipients, many of which depend on SCCs.

And Meta says their broad use makes the fine unfair.

Facebook President Nick Clegg said: “We are therefore disappointed to have been singled out when using the same legal mechanism as thousands of other companies looking to provide services in Europe.

“This decision is flawed, unjustified and sets a dangerous precedent for the countless other companies transferring data between the EU and US.”

But privacy groups have welcomed that precedent.

Caitlin Fennessy, of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, said: “The size of this record-breaking fine is matched by the significance of the signal it sends.

“Today’s decision signals that companies have a whole lot of risk on the table.”

It could make EU companies demand US partners stored data within Europe - or switch to domestic alternatives, she added.

In 2013, former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden disclosed American authorities had repeatedly accessed people’s information via technology companies such as Facebook and Google.

And Austrian privacy campaigner Max Schrems filed a legal challenge against Facebook for failing to protect his privacy rights, setting off a decade-long battle over the legality of moving EU data to the US.

Europe’s highest court, the European Court of Justice (ECJ), has repeatedly said Washington has insufficient checks in place to protect Europeans’ information.

And in 2020, the ECJ, ruled an EU-to-US data transfer agreement invalid.

But the ECJ left the door open for companies to use SCCs, saying the transfer of data to any other third country was valid as long as it ensured an “adequate level of data protection”.

It is that test Meta has been found to have failed.

Asked about the €1.2 billion fine, Schrems said he was “happy to see this decision after 10 years of litigation” but it could have been much higher.

“Unless US surveillance laws get fixed, Meta will have to fundamentally restructure its systems,” he added.

Despite the record-breaking size of the fine, experts have said they think Meta’s privacy practices will not change.

“A billion-euro parking ticket is of no consequence to a company that earns many more billions by parking illegally,” Johnny Ryan, a senior fellow at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties.

The US recently updated its internal legal protections to give the EU greater assurances American intelligence agencies would follow new rules governing such data access.

In 2021, Amazon was fined for similarly flouting the EU’s privacy standard.

Ireland’s DPC has also fined WhatsApp, another Meta-owned business, for breaching stringent regulations relating to the transparency of data shared with its other subsidiaries.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×