EU court fines Meta $1.3 billion over privacy concerns

A European Union court Monday ordered Facebook’s parent company to stop transferring user data across the Atlantic by October. Regulators say the company does not sufficiently protect EU users’ data from U.S. spy agencies. A court in 2020 struck down a previous EU-U.S. agreement about data transfers.

What has Meta said? Meta said that the precedent of restricting data flow between countries could fundamentally change the internet and ultimately create “national and regional silos” of information. The company said it’s being unfairly singled out among hundreds of businesses with the same data-sharing rules. Meta said it will appeal the decision. If the order is not put on hold during the appeals process, Facebook will have to delete all EU user data from U.S. servers by October. That order does not apply to Meta’s other platforms, Instagram and WhatsApp. 

Dig deeper: Read Steve West’s report in Liberties on a recent U.S. Supreme Court case over what social media companies should be held responsible for.