Meta fined record €1.2bn by data watchdog over US transfers

A data-transfers ban for Meta was widely expected and once prompted the US firm to threaten a total withdrawal from the EU. Picture: Brian Lawless

Facebook owner Meta was hit with a record €1.2bn fine for personal data beaches, Ireland’s privacy watchdog announced today.

The tech giant was also ordered to stop the unlawful processing and storing in the US of EU users’ data within six months. European data regulators said Meta failed to comply with a 2020 court decision to prohibit multinationals from transferring personal data across the Atlantic into the US, putting the “fundamental rights and freedoms of data subjects” at risk.