London, May 22 (BNA): The European Union slapped a record $1.3 billion fine on Meta on Monday, ordering it to stop transferring users’ personal information across the Atlantic by October, in the latest in a decade-long case sparked by US concerns about Internet monitoring.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that the €1.2 billion penalty is the largest since the European Union’s strict data privacy regime went into effect five years ago, surpassing Amazon’s €746 million fine in 2021 for data protection breaches.
Meta, which had previously warned that services could be cut off to its users in Europe, has vowed to appeal and ask the courts to immediately suspend the decision.
“There is no immediate disruption of Facebook in Europe,” the company said. The decision applies to user data such as names, email, IP addresses, messages, viewing history, geolocation data and other information used by Meta and other technology giants such as Google for targeted online advertising.
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