The penalty fine of 1.2 billion euros from Ireland's Data Protection Commission is the biggest since the EU's strict data privacy regime took effect five years ago, surpassing Amazon's 746 million euro penalty in 2021 for data protection violations.
The Irish watchdog is Meta's lead privacy regulator in the 27-nation bloc because the Silicon Valley tech giant's European headquarters is based in Dublin.
Meta, which had previously warned that services for its users in Europe could be cut off, vowed to appeal and ask courts to immediately put the decision on hold.
“There is no immediate disruption to Facebook in Europe,” the company said.
“This decision is flawed, unjustified and sets a dangerous precedent for the countless other companies transferring data between the E.U. and U.S.,” Nick Clegg, Meta's president of global and affairs, and Chief Legal Officer Jennifer Newstead said in a statement.
Brussels and Washington signed an agreement last year on a reworked Privacy Shield that Meta could use, but the pact is awaiting a decision from European officials on whether it adequately protects data privacy.
Brussels and Washington signed an agreement last year on a reworked Privacy Shield that Meta could use, but the pact is awaiting a decision from European officials on whether it adequately protects data privacy.
EU institutions have been reviewing the agreement, and the bloc's lawmakers this month called for improvements, saying the safeguards aren't strong enough.
That left another tool to govern data transfers — stock legal contracts. Irish regulators initially ruled that Meta didn't need to be fined because it was acting in good faith in using them to move data across the Atlantic. But it was overruled by the E.U.'s top panel of data privacy authorities last month, a decision that the Irish watchdog confirmed Monday.
Meta warned in its latest earnings report that without a legal basis for data transfers, it will be forced to stop offering its products and services in Europe, “which would materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.”