Italy Fines OpenAI €15 Million for ChatGPT Privacy Violations, Mandates Six-Month Public Awareness Campaign

Dec 20, 2024, 11:45 AM

Italy's privacy watchdog, the Garante per la protezione dei dati personali, has imposed a €15 million fine on OpenAI following an investigation initiated in March 2023 into the management of its ChatGPT service. The investigation found that OpenAI processed personal data without a proper legal basis, failed to notify the authority of a data breach in March 2023, and did not implement age verification mechanisms, risking exposure of minors to inappropriate content. Additionally, OpenAI is required to launch a six-month institutional communication campaign across radio, television, newspapers, and the internet to inform the public about ChatGPT's data collection practices and user rights under GDPR, including rights to opposition, rectification, and erasure.