Facebook owner Meta, forced to pay nearly $100K per day for violation, is still breaking rule, regulator says
The owner of Facebook and Instagram has been ordered to pay a fine of one million crowns (just over $94,000) per day
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Meta Platforms, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, is in violation of European data privacy rules in Norway despite being fined nearly $100,000 per day, according to the country's data regulator.
Hanne Inger Bjurstroem Jahren, a lawyer representing regulator Datatilsynet, told a court Wednesday that Meta is not in compliance with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and thus should continue paying the fine, Reuters reported.
"There is no discussion on whether the company is in violation of these rules ... Today Meta breaks GDPR rules," she told the court during the last day of a two-day hearing.
The giant tech company has been ordered to pay a fine of one million crowns (just over $94,000) per day since Aug. 14 for breaching users' rights to privacy.
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Norway's data protection agency is fining Facebook and Instagram owner Meta nearly $100,000 per day for defying a ban on using users' personal information to target ads. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Datatilsynet determined Meta was violating regulations by harvesting user data and using it to target advertising at them. The practice, known as behavioral advertising, is fairly common to Big Tech, but doing so without the consent of users violates the European rule, Reuters reported.
During the first hearing on Tuesday, Meta told the court it had already committed to ask for consent from its users but did not specify when or how it would do so.
Meta has petitioned the Oslo District Court for a temporary injunction to stop the implementation of the Norwegian Data Protection Authority's ban from July 14, 2023. (FREDRIK VARFJELL/NTB/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
According to Reuters, the owner of Facebook and Instagram is seeking a temporary injunction to prevent having to pay the daily fee, which will remain in effect for at least the next three months, as it argued Datatilsynet used an "expedited process" and did not sufficiently provide the company time to answer.
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The Norwegian regulator argued that despite the apparent change in policy — that Meta would now seek consent from users — the company still remained in violation until the change was implemented as users' rights continued being violated.
Datatilsynet suggested the fine Meta continues to pay could be made permanent if it were to refer its decision to the European Data Protection Board. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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Datatilsynet suggested the fine could be made permanent if it were to refer its decision to the European Data Protection Board.
According to Reuters, the board has the authority to make the fine permanent should it agree with the regulator's decision. However, Datatilsynet has yet to take this step.