Meta has been hit with a record-breaking $1.3 billion fine (€1.2 billion) by EU data regulators, and ordered to stop transferring the Facebook data of EU citizens to the US.
The fine exceeds the previous EU record of €746 million levied against Amazon in 2021 for similar privacy violations.
Transferring data to the US is critical for Meta’s vast ad-targeting operation, which relies on processing multiple streams of personal data from its users.
“Meta cannot just blackmail the EU into giving up its data protection standards,” replied EU lawmaker Axel Voss to the news.
Although Meta has now been ordered to stop these data transfers, there are a number of caveats that benefit the US social media giant.
First, the ruling only applies to data from Facebook, not other Meta companies like Instagram and WhatsApp.
“Unless US surveillance laws gets fixed, Meta will likely have to keep EU data in the EU. »