Meta was fined a record $1.3 billion by the European Union over transferring user data to the United States, NBC News reported.

• The penalty is connected to a legal complaint filed by a private party who charged that the method of transferring the data of EU citizens to the US left Europeans vulnerable to American surveillance of their private information.

Methods of transferring personal data between the EU and US have been the subject of legal challenges, including Meta’s Privacy Shield, which was found not to be in accordance with European law by the EU Court of Justice in 2020.

• The Irish Data Protection Commission overseeing Meta in the EU alleged that the tech firm had broken the EU’s Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by transferring personal data of European citizens to the US after the 2020 high court ruling.

The Commission charged that Meta failed to “address the risks to the fundamental rights and freedoms of data subjects that were identified” in 2020 by the court.

• The agency also ordered Meta to “suspend any future transfer of personal data to the US within the period of five months” from the high court ruling.

The $1.3 billion fine is the largest ever given to a company for being in breach of the GDRP.

Meta announced it intends to appeal the fine.

“We are appealing these decisions and will immediately seek a stay with the courts who can pause the implementation deadlines, given the harm that these orders would cause, including to the millions of people who use Facebook every day,” Facebook said in a Monday statement.

Source: Arutz Sheva