Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook are not allowed to transfer data in the USA
The European Union has sentenced Facebook parent company Meta to a record fine of 1.2 billion US dollars. The reason: data protection violations. In addition, the meta services Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook will no longer be allowed to transfer data to the USA.
Facebook parent company Meta is to pay a fine of 1.2 billion US dollars for data protection violations. This was announced by the Irish data protection authority DPC on Monday 22 May 2023 official statement with. The background to the decision is an almost ten-year-old dispute with the Austrian data protection activist Max Schrems.
Is Meta withdrawing from Europe?
Schrems filed a lawsuit against Facebook after Edward Sowden’s revelations in 2012. The reason: the fear that US secret services could access the data of European users.
In the course of the Schrems II judgment, the European Court of Justice declared the so-called Privacy Shield, an agreement on data transmission between the EU and the USA, to be invalid in 2020.
Meta then repeatedly stated that the group could be forced to withdraw its services from Europe. The current decision by the DPC represents a new record. Because the previous maximum fine for data protection violations is 746 million euros against Amazon.
Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook are not allowed to transfer data in the USA
In January 2023, the Irish data protection authority had already sentenced Meta to a fine of 390 million US dollars. The reason at the time: The US group forced Facebook and Instagram users to agree to personalized advertising.
The current record fine is now only aimed at Facebook. However, the DPC has also committed Meta to stop the transfer of personal data from the EU to the US for its Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp services within five months.
According to reports, Meta wants to appeal against the decision of the DPC. Since such legal processes often take months or even years, a new data protection agreement between the EU and the USA could already be in place by then. Experts assume, however, that a new agreement cannot undo previous violations of the law.
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