Meta’s practice of tracking Instagram and Facebook users violates their privacy, Norway’s data protection regulator said in a press release today. If the company doesn’t take remedial action, it will be fined one million crowns ($100,000) per day from August 4th until November 3rd. “It is so clear that this is illegal that we need to intervene now and immediately,” said Tobias Judin, head of Norway’s privacy commission, Datatilsynet.
The move follows a European court ruling banning Meta from harvesting user data like location, behavior and more for advertising. Datatilsynet has referred its actions to Europe’s Data Protection Board, which could widen the fine across Europe. The aim is to put “additional pressure” on Meta, Judin said. (Norway is a member of the European single market, but not technically an EU member.)
Meta told Reuters that it’s reviewing Datatilsynet’s decision and that the decision wouldn’t immediately impact its services. “We continue to constructively engage with the Irish DPC, our lead regulator in the EU, regarding our compliance with its decision,” a spokesperson said. “The debate around legal bases has been ongoing for some time and businesses continue to face a lack of regulatory certainty in this area.”
Meta is facing pressure across Europe over its data privacy actions. Earlier this month, Ireland’s data regulator (DPC) ruled that Meta can’t gather user data for behavioral advertising. And back in May, it was hit with a record-breaking €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) fine for transferring EU user data to its servers in the US.
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In addition, Meta’s new Twitter rival Threads is not yet available in the European Union due to privacy concerns. When Threads debuted, Meta said that it was “not yet prepared the service for a European launch outside the UK, which is not fully governed by GDPR or EU privacy rules.” Meta is even going so far as to block EU users from accessing the new social media site with a VPN.
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