Nov 30, Kathmandu- The European country of Ireland has imposed a heavy fine on Facebook's parent company, Meta.
The Data Protection Commission of Ireland has decided to fine Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, $260.5 million due to the fact that the data of millions of Facebook users have been published online.
According to the commission, the phone numbers and email addresses of more than 53 million Facebook users have been published in online hacking forums.
The commission started investigating this matter in April 2021 and finally found Meta guilty and fined it in the matter.
Facebook has claimed that the data of users seen online many years ago are not hacked data, but useless data.
Scraping is a method in which automated software is used to extract data from the Internet and insert it into an online forum.
According to the Commission, the disclosure of the data of millions of users online is a violation of Section 25 of the General Data Protection Regulation existing in their country.
Data Protection Commission commissioner Helen Dixon says Meta has been fined $265 million because when user data is made public on a hacker forum, there is a risk of scamming, spamming, smishing, and phishing, as well as losing control over their personal data.
On the other hand, the spokesperson of Facebook said that the protection of users' data and the protection of privacy is a fundamental function of the company and that they are cooperating with the Irish Data Protection Commission on this matter.
Earlier, the Commission of Ireland had imposed a fine of more than 405 million dollars on Facebook.