A Fine Irish Day? DPC Announces Decision in Meta (Facebook) Inquiry

Editor’s Note: The Data Protection Commission (DPC) is the Irish supervisory authority for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It also has functions and powers related to other critical regulatory frameworks, including the Irish ePrivacy Regulations (2011) and the EU Directive known as the Law Enforcement Directive. Recently the DPC announced its decision on an inquiry involving a series of twelve data breach notifications received related to the processing of personal data by Meta Platforms. As data and legal professionals operating in the eDiscovery ecosystem seek to understand the challenge and cost of non-compliance with the GDPR in relation to data breaches, they may benefit from the details and data points shared in this recent announcement.

Press Announcement*

Data Protection Commission Announces Decision in Meta (Facebook) Inquiry

The DPC has today adopted a decision, imposing a fine of €17m on Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (formerly Facebook Ireland Limited) (“Meta Platforms”).

The decision followed an inquiry by the DPC into a series of twelve data breach notifications it received in the six-month period between 7 June 2018 and 4 December 2018.  The inquiry examined the extent to which Meta Platforms complied with the requirements of GDPR Articles 5(1)(f), 5(2), 24(1) and 32(1) in relation to the processing of personal data relevant to the twelve breach notifications.

As a result of its inquiry, the DPC found that Meta Platforms infringed Articles 5(2) and 24(1) GDPR.  The DPC found that Meta Platforms failed to have in place appropriate technical and organizational measures which would enable it to readily demonstrate the security measures that it implemented in practice to protect EU users’ data, in the context of the twelve personal data breaches.

Given that the processing under examination constituted “cross-border” processing, the DPC’s decision was subject to the co-decision-making process outlined in Article 60 GDPR and all of the other European supervisory authorities were engaged as co-decision-makers.  While objections to the DPC’s draft decision were raised by two of the European supervisory authorities, consensus was achieved through further engagement between the DPC and the supervisory authorities concerned.  Accordingly, the DPC’s decision represents the collective views of both the DPC and its counterpart supervisory authorities throughout the EU.

Read the original announcement.

* Copyrighted information note shared by permission according to the Re-use of Public Section Information

Additional Reading

• The Data Protection Commission (DPC) Ireland
• Far-Reaching Outcomes? Irish Data Protection Commission Publishes 2021 Annual Report
• Luck of the Irish? Data Protection Commission of Ireland Published Annual Report (2020)

Source: ComplexDiscovery