Facebook is no stranger to getting dinged for privacy violations in European countries. For example, the company got slapped with a €390 million fine from the European Union earlier this month for gathering user data to target ads without their permission. However, according to privacy rights group noyb, that amount is still far short of what the social media giant should’ve been fined for this violation.

According to the group, the current penalty isn’t enough to dissuade Facebook from doing the same thing in the future. They also allege that it’s a gross undercalculation of what the company truly owes.

“By not even checking publicly available information, the DPC gifted €3.97 billion to Meta,” the group’s honorary chairman, Max Schrems, said. “It took us an hour and a spread sheet to make the calculation. I am sure the Irish taxpayers would not mind having that extra cash, if [an employee] would have just opened a search engine and done some research.”

It seems unlikely that the financial penalty in this case will be increased at this point. However, reports like this still call valuable attention to the issue of how to hold Facebook accountable for its privacy violations.

Recommended Resources

Choose what the experts use: award-winning cybersecurity you can trust and rely on.

Surf the web truly incognito. Try Bitdefender Premium VPN, the ultra-fast VPN that keeps your online identity and activities safe from hackers, ISPs and snoops.

System Mechanic 14 – Make your computer run like new. Winner of 200+ Editor’s Choice awards!