US

Facebook owner Meta hit with record £1bn fine

The owner of WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook has been slapped with a record fine of €1.2bn (£1.04bn) by the Irish data protection regulator.

It’s the biggest fine ever levied for breach of the general data protection regulations (GDPR).

Meta has incurred the fine for transferring EU citizens data to the United States for processing and has been ordered to halt the practice.

The Data Protection Commission in Ireland has jurisdiction over Meta, effectively operating as the EU privacy regulator, as Meta’s European headquarters are in Dublin.