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Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has received yet another fine from the European Union (EU). This time, the company has been fined €390 million (around $414 million) for violating the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by requiring users of its platforms to accept personalized ads or stop using the service altogether.
Meta faces another EU fine for alleged GDPR violation
The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), which regulates Meta’s EU activity, found that the company had required users of its platforms to accept targeted ads or stop using the service altogether, a breach of GDPR rules that give users the right to choose whether they want personalized ads.
The DPC has instructed Meta to bring its data processing operations into compliance within three months. This fine marks the end of two investigations into Meta by the Irish regulator and the EU, which began on May 25, 2018, the day GDPR took effect.
In a statement, Meta expressed disappointment with the ruling and stated that it believes its current approach respects GDPR. The company plans to appeal the decision.
“There has been a lack of regulatory clarity on this issue, and the debate among regulators and policymakers around which legal bases are most appropriate in a given situation has been ongoing for some time. That’s why we strongly disagree with the DPC’s final decision and believe we fully comply with GDPR by relying on Contractual Necessity for behavioural ads given the nature of our services,” said Meta in a blog post.
Meta has a history of opposing efforts to opt out of personalized ads and has even predicted that Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature, which allows users to ask apps not to track them, could cost the company $10 billion in lost ad revenue. There have also been accusations that Meta tried to avoid this feature by inserting a tracking code through the in-app web browser.
Huge blow to profits
If Meta loses this appeal, it could potentially lose a significant amount of revenue as users see fewer targeted ads they are likely to click on. However, it is unlikely that the EU will reverse its decision, as the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) is the leading watchdog for some of Silicon Valley’s biggest tech firms, including Meta, which have set up their European headquarters in Ireland.
The DPC previously issued a €105 million ($402 million) fine to Meta over child privacy settings on Instagram, and a €265 million ($277 million) penalty for failing to protect users against data scraping. This ruling by the DPC is significant for both Meta and the broader tech industry, as it shows the willingness of regulatory bodies to enforce GDPR compliance and hold companies accountable for their data practices.