Meta was fined a record 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) by the European Data Protection Authorities for transferring European Union user data to the United States. The decision is linked to a lawsuit by Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems, who argued that the framework for transferring EU citizens' data to the US does not protect Europeans from US surveillance.

In the news, it is mentioned that various mechanisms for the legal transfer of personal data between the USA and the EU are objected to and the last one, Privacy Shield, was canceled by the European Court of Justice, the highest court of the EU, in 2020.

The Irish Data Protection Commission alleged that overseas Meta operations in the EU violated the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by continuing to send personal data of European citizens to the US despite the 2020 European court ruling.

GDPR is the EU's landmark data protection regulation, which came into force in 2018 and governs companies active in the EU.

In the news details it is stated that the Company uses a mechanism called standard contractual clauses to transfer personal data in and out of the EU and this is not blocked by any court of the EU. It is stated by the Irish Data Observer that the items were accepted by the European Commission along with other measures implemented by Meta. However, the regulatory body stated that these regulations "do not address the risks to the fundamental rights and freedoms of data subjects identified" by the European Court of Justice.

The Irish Data Protection Commission also instructed Meta to "suspend future transfers of personal data to the United States within a five-month period" from the decision. The 1.2 billion euro fine for meta is the highest any company has ever been fined for violating the GDPR. The previous largest fine was the €746m fine imposed on e-commerce giant Amazon for violating GDPR in 2021.

Meta said it will appeal the decision and the fine.

Nick Clegg, head of global affairs at Meta, and Jennifer Newstead, chief legal officer of the company, said in a blog post on Monday, "We object to these decisions, and considering the damage these decisions will cause, including the millions of people who use Facebook every day, we may suspend enforcement periods." "We will demand an immediate suspension from the courts," he said.

The Meta case has focused attention again on the EU and Washington's efforts to agree on a new data transmission mechanism. The US and EU agreed on a new framework for cross-border data transfers "in principle" last year. However, the new agreement has not yet entered into force.

Clegg and Newstead said that "if the new framework goes into effect before their implementation period expires, our services can continue as they do today with no interruption or impact to users."

Source: By Arjun Kharpal, CNBC, Meta fined a record $1.3 billion over E.U. user data transfers to the U.S. (nbcnews.com)