US social media giant Meta, Facebook’s parent company, was fined 265m euros ($277m) on behalf of the European Union by the Irish regulator on Monday for failing to adequately protect its users’ data.
“The Data Protection Commission (CPD) announced today the conclusion of an investigation into Meta Platforms, a subsidiary of the giant that “controls the data of the social network Facebook, imposes a fine of 265 million euros and a series of corrective measures”, the organization said in a statement.
In April 2021, the CPD announced that it had opened an investigation on behalf of the EU against Facebook after it was known that it had hacked more than 530 million user data in an action dating back to 2019.
Facebook’s European headquarters are in the Republic of Ireland and it is therefore up to the Irish regulator to conduct the investigation.
This study focused on “Facebook Search, Facebook Messenger Contact Importer and Instagram Contact Importer (…)” applications between May 25, 2018 – September 2019 and investigated whether Meta adequately protects its users’ data in accordance with EU regulations. .
The “decision” to fine Meta and its subsidiaries, detailed in the CPD, was made on Friday after confirmation of “violation of European regulations”.
Detected in 2019, the attack used a method known as “scraping,” which involves hacking Facebook profiles through software that mimics the functionality of the network that helps members easily find their friends and contact lists.
“Protecting personal data is crucial to running our business,” a Meta spokesperson said on Monday.
That is why we are cooperating fully with the Data Protection Commission on this important issue and have made changes to our systems.”
source: Noticias
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.