Ireland’s data privacy regulator imposed a $277 million fine on social media giant Facebook on Monday, bringing the total it has fined parent group Meta to about $1.04 billion.
The penalty resulted from an investigation, started last
year into the discovery of a collated set of personal data that had been
scraped from Facebook between May 2018 and September 2019, and made available
online.
Facebook was also ordered to make a range of corrective
measures.
Meta said it had cooperated fully with the investigation by
Ireland’s Data Privacy Commissioner and made changes to its systems during the
time in question, including removing the ability to scrape its features in this
way using phone numbers.
Monday’s fine is the fourth the DPC has levied against one
of Meta’s companies. It is Meta’s lead privacy regulator within the European
Union, and has 13 more inquiries into the social media group.
Facebook was also ordered to make a range of corrective
measures.
Meta said it had cooperated fully with the investigation by
Ireland’s Data Privacy Commissioner and made changes to its systems during the
time in question, including removing the ability to scrape its features in this
way using phone numbers.
Monday’s fine is the fourth the DPC has levied against one
of Meta’s companies. It is Meta’s lead privacy regulator within the European
Union, and has 13 more inquiries into the social media group.
“We’ll keep going until the behavior does change,” Ireland’s
Data Privacy Commissioner Helen Dixon told Irish national broadcaster RTE on
Monday.
Meta shares were down nearly 2% on Monday.