Facebook will be fined more than 746 million euros and ordered to suspend data transfers to the US as the Irish regulator prepares to punish Facebook for the way it handles user information.
The fine, first reported by Bloomberg and expected to be confirmed soon, will set a record for breaching the EU's general data protection regulation.
The decision by Ireland's Data Protection Commission, which is the main EU-wide privacy regulator for Facebook and its parent company Meta, is expected to stop transfers of European users' data to the US.
The decision is related to a legal challenge over concerns that European user data is not adequately protected and transferred to US companies.
Johnny Ryan, a fellow at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and a campaigner for stronger internet user data protection, said a financial penalty of more than €746m would not be enough if Facebook did not fundamentally change its model of business.
"A billion-euro fine has no consequences for a company that earns many more billions illegally," he said.
A Meta spokesperson said: “This case relates to a historic conflict of EU and US law, which is in the process of being resolved through the new EU-US Data Privacy Framework. We welcome the progress that policymakers have made towards ensuring the continued transfer of data across borders and await the regulator's final decision on this matter.”
