Meta is fined 251 million euros for causing a data leak

In the old continent, Meta is invariably in the eye of the hurricane for issues that usually concern the privacy, often violated, of its users’ personal data. The Data Protection Commission (DPC) of Ireland has imposed a fine of 251 million euros on the company led by Mark Zuckerberg because a technical vulnerability in its systems allowed third parties to have access to the personal data of Facebook users. without those affected having the opportunity to give their express consent.

According to the DPC29 million users were affected globally by the data leak within Meta. AND 3 million of those 29 million users had established their residence in countries of the European Union (EU).

Compromised data includes first and last names, email addressestelephone numbers, place of residence and work, date of birth, religious affiliation, gender, publications on the timeline, group membership and data on minors.

The vulnerability, later corrected by Meta, allowed third parties to access the personal information of Facebook users between September 14 and 28, 2018.

Meta will foreseeably appeal the fine

Graham Doyle, deputy commissioner of the DPC, emphasizes that Errors in the design and development process of 2.0 platforms can eventually put users at serious risk.whose fundamental rights may ultimately be undermined.

A spokesperson for Meta, which apparently intends to appeal the sanction, insists that the company “immediately took action as soon as the problem was identified.” In addition, the company “proactively informed affected users and also the Irish Data Protection Commission,” the spokesperson says.

Just a couple of months ago, Meta was also in the crosshairs of the European authorities in a case also directly related to privacy. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) came out in favor of the Austrian activist Max Schremswhich denounced Meta for using potentially very sensitive personal data of the user (their sexual orientation, for example) to confront them with personalized advertising. That court ordered Meta to limit the processing of user personal data for advertising purposes to data that is strictly necessary.