Following an investigation into 12 data breach notifications received by the regulator in 2018, Ireland’s data authority announced on Tuesday that Facebook parent Meta Platforms (FB.O) would be fined 17 million euro ($18.7 million).
“Meta Platforms failed to have in place suitable technological and organisational mechanisms that would enable it to readily demonstrate the security measures that it employed in practise to secure EU users’ data,” the country’s Data Protection Commissioner said.
Because their European Union headquarters are in Ireland, Meta and a number of other significant U.S. Internet corporations are regulated there.
The Data Protection Commissioner, who is investigating Meta, penalised its WhatsApp subsidiary a record 225 million euros last year for failing to comply with EU data protection standards in 2018.
Meta’s “systems continue to grow,” a spokeswoman said, adding that the company would “seriously review Tuesday’s judgement.”
“This fine is for record-keeping methods from 2018, which we have since corrected, not for a failure to secure people’s information,” a spokeswoman explained.
