Meta Platforms' Irish unit hit with $264 million fine over data breach

Investing.com -- Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META ).'s Irish subsidiary has been fined €251 million ($264 million) by the Irish data protection commission. The fine follows two investigations into a data breach that affected 29 million users globally, as stated by the watchdog on Tuesday.

The breach, reported by Meta Platforms Ireland Limited in September 2018, compromised data such as full names, email addresses, phone numbers, timeline posts, and group memberships. The watchdog's statement also noted that around three million of the affected users were based in the European Union and European Economic Area.

The breach occurred due to unauthorized third parties exploiting user tokens on Facebook. It was addressed by Meta Platforms Ireland Limited and its US parent company shortly after being discovered.

The Irish data protection commission determined that Meta Platforms had violated General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules. The tech company failed to document facts about the breaches and the actions taken to address them. The watchdog also noted that Meta Platforms did not meet its obligation to ensure that only the necessary personal data for specific purposes was processed by default.

In response to the fine, a Meta company spokesperson stated, "We took immediate action to fix the problem as soon as it was identified, and we proactively informed people impacted as well as the Irish Data Protection Commission. We have a wide range of industry-leading measures in place to protect people across our platforms."

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Source: Investing.com