Meta Fined €251M by Ireland's DPC for 2018 Facebook Data Breach Affecting 29M Users, Including 3M in EU

Dec 17, 2024, 04:16 PM

Meta Platforms Inc. has been fined €251 million by Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) for a 2018 data breach that affected approximately 29 million Facebook users globally, including about 3 million in the European Union and European Economic Area. The breach, which occurred over 14 days between September 14 and September 28, 2018, was caused by a vulnerability in the 'View As' feature of Facebook, allowing hackers to access sensitive personal data such as full names, email addresses, phone numbers, and location information. Meta was penalized for insufficient breach notification and failure to ensure data protection by design.