Meta was fined $277 million Platforms because it did not prevent the leakage of personal data of more than half a billion Facebook users.
The Irish Data Protection Commission, the main privacy watchdog for Meta in the European Union, imposed the fine following an investigation that found the social media company had failed to implement strict safeguards required by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
In addition to the fine – the third largest under the GDPR – the Data Protection Commission ordered Meta's Irish division to make sure that the processing is in compliance with the law, according to a statement emailed Monday.
The Irish authority is the lead watchdog for some of the biggest companies technologyof Silicon Valley which have set up EU branches in the country, including Meta.
The preference of large technology companies in Ireland is due to the country's very low tax rate,
It launched its investigation after revelations that "a trove of Facebook's personal data" had been published online. The personal information of 533 million Facebook users appeared on a hacking website last year, and included phone numbers and email addresses.
