Meta pays nearly $100,000 a day in fines for privacy violations

Zuckerberg’s Meta has once again come under the scrutiny of regulators, this time from Norway. The national regulator stated that Meta is violating European data privacy rules and that this case could have broader European implications.

Due to the aforementioned violation, the Norwegian regulator has fined Meta 1 million kroner (94,145 dollars) per day, which it has been paying since August 14, for infringing on user privacy by collecting user data and using it for targeted advertising.

The Norwegian regulator imposed the fine for three months, meaning that for the next 90 days, Meta will be paying penalties. Of course, the owner of Facebook and Instagram has appealed the ruling and requested a temporary injunction against that order.

However, the fine is valid because ‘Meta does not comply with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR),’ said Hanne Inger Bjurstroem Jahren, the lawyer representing the regulator. At the hearing, she added that ‘there is no debate about whether Meta is violating the rules because the GDPR violations are obvious.’

Meta defended itself in court by accusing the Norwegian regulator of ‘rushed proceedings’ that prevented the company from having ‘sufficient time to respond,’ and that the company ‘had already committed to seeking user consent.’ However, it seems that nothing has come of that commitment.

The regulator also stated that it is unclear when and how Meta will seek user consent and that in the meantime, users’ rights are being violated.

The Norwegian regulator could make the fine permanent if it forwards its decision to the European Data Protection Board and if that board agrees with the penalty. This could also extend the territorial scope of the decision to the rest of Europe, but the Norwegian regulator has not yet taken that step.