This is the third fine imposed on Meta this year in the EU and the fourth in six months. Author: AFP

The owner of Facebook Meta has been fined a record €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) administrative fine for transferring user data from the European Union to the United States, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) on behalf of the European Union has said.

In response, Meta stated that it was “disappointed to have been singled out” and that the decision was “wrong, unfounded and sets a dangerous precedent for countless other companies.”

“The ability to transfer data across borders is critical to the operation of the global open Internet,” Nick Clegg, Meta’s President of Global Affairs, and General Counsel Jennifer Newsted said in a blog post.

“…Thousands of businesses and other organizations rely on the ability to transfer data between the EU and the US to operate and provide services that people use every day,” they added.

“We intend to appeal both the substance of the decision and its orders, including the fine, and will seek a stay in court to stop the deadlines for execution,” senior Meta officials said.

This is the largest fine ever imposed under the General Data Protection Regulation. In 2021, Amazon was fined 746 million euros ($807 million) in Luxembourg for violating the bloc’s data protection laws, Al Jazeera recalls.

“No country has done more than the US to comply with European rules through its latest reforms as transfers continue largely unopposed by countries like China,” Clegg and Newsted argue.

EU regulators have already fined Meta hundreds of millions of euros for data breaches by its Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook services.

Source: Juventud Rebelde