Users' profiles and personal information, including birthdays, religions, and phone numbers, were accessed by hackers, who obtained access to the information.
The day is going to be very costly for Meta. First, Australia announced a settlement with the firm over the Cambridge Analytica incident that was worth $50 million AUD ($31.7 million USD). Now, the Irish Data Protection Committee (IDPC) has levied a sanction of €251 million ($263 million) against Meta. 2018 saw a breach of personal data on Facebook, which led to the imposition of a fine by the IRDC.
According to the statement made by the firm at the time, hackers had taken advantage of a "vulnerability in Facebook's code" that was associated with the View As feature. Because of this, they were able to obtain access tokens belonging to users and seize control of their accounts. It was possible for the malicious actors to access the Facebook accounts of around 29 million people all over the world, including three million users in the European Union and European Economic Area at the time. They were able to obtain access to information such as the whole name of a user, their email address, their phone number, their location, their date of birth, their religion, and certain personal details about children.
The Information Disclosure and Privacy Commission (IDPC) holds Meta accountable for failing to implement adequate data protection measures during the design of its processing systems, failing to process personal data only when it was absolutely necessary, and failing to disclose all of the information on the breach.
"This enforcement action highlights how the failure to build in data protection requirements throughout the design and development cycle can expose individuals to very serious risks and harms, including a risk to the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals," DPC Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said in a statement. "By allowing unauthorised exposure of profile information, the vulnerabilities behind this breach caused a grave risk of misuse of these types of data."
"This decision relates to an incident that occurred in 2018," a spokeswoman for Meta said in reaction to the fine and was quoted by Indiasocialbook. We immediately took measures to address the problem as soon as it was discovered, and we informed those who were affected as well as the Irish Data Protection Commission in a proactive manner. To ensure the safety of individuals across all of our platforms, we have implemented a comprehensive set of industry-leading safeguards.
The settlement that was reached in the Cambridge Analytica issue in Australia was the result of a whistleblower who disclosed in 2018 that the corporation had "exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people's profiles." It had been three years since Facebook had discovered this information. This information was used by Cambridge Analytica to influence voters in the United States for the 2016 campaign of Donald Trump and for the campaign of the pro-Brexit movement. Prior to his recent release from jail for his failure to assist with the inquiry that began on January 6, Steve Bannon, who had previously served as the company's leader, was there.
An estimated 311,127 individuals are expected to receive cash as a result of the settlement. In order to be eligible, individuals must have had a Facebook account between the months of November and December 2015, have spent more than thirty days in Australia during that time period, and either have installed the This is Your Digital Life app themselves or have had a Facebook friend install it. Earlier, Meta had reached an agreement to pay $725 million to consumers in the United States.
As of 10:19 AM Eastern Time on December 17, 2024: An amended version of this post has been included, which includes a response from a spokeswoman for Meta.
