Facebook Owner Meta Fined $275 Million By Irish Regulator

Facebook owner Meta has been fined €265 million ($275 million) by Irish Regulator the Data Protection Commission for breaching data protection rules.

The inquiry began in April 2021, when it was revealed that Facebook personal data had been made available on an online hacking forum. This included the full names, phone numbers, birth dates and locations of Facebook users using the site in 2018 and 2019, according to Business Insider which first reported the incident.

Meta admitted the data had been scraped using legitimate tools designed to help people find their friends through their phone numbers—a violation of its terms. The ability to find users by phone number was removed in September 2019.

Facebook was fined for “failing to apply Data Protection by Design and Default” as stipulated by the EU update to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It’s the third fine for Facebook’s owner this year.

“The scope of the inquiry concerned an examination and assessment of Facebook Search, Facebook Messenger Contact Importer and Instagram Contact Importer tools in relation to processing carried out by Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (‘MPIL’) during the period between 25 May 2018 and September 2019,” the Data Protection Commission (DPC) said.

The DPC said it had “examined the implementation of technical and organisational measures pursuant to Article 25 GDPR”, which deals with the concept. The inquiry process included cooperation with other data protection supervisory authorities within the EU, who all agreed with the decision.

As well as the fine, Meta has been ordered to “bring its processing into compliance” via “a range of specified remedial actions within a particular timeframe.”

A Meta spokesman sent me a statement, which reads: “Protecting the privacy and security of people’s data is fundamental to how our business works. That’s why we have cooperated fully with the Irish Data Protection Commission on this important issue.

“We made changes to our systems during the time in question, including removing the ability to scrape our features in this way using phone numbers. Unauthorised data scraping is unacceptable and against our rules and we will continue working with our peers on this industry challenge. We are reviewing this decision carefully.”

The new fine is the latest in a series of blows to Facebook, which is struggling in tough market conditions with additional “headwinds” such as Apple’s privacy features.