EU hits Facebook's Meta with another multimillion euro fine for breaching privacy laws

The European Union has hit Facebook's parent company Meta with another fine of hundreds of millions of euros for privacy violations and banned the company from forcing users in the 27-nation bloc to agree to personalized ads based on their online activity.

As TechCrunch reported, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission has imposed two fines totaling €390 million in its decision in two cases regarding targeting users with ads based on what they do online. Meta has announced that it will appeal the court decision. 

A decision in a court case against Meta’s WhatsApp messaging service is expected later this month.

Irish regulators have already served Meta four other fines for data privacy infringements since 2021 that total more than €900 million, with a series of other open cases against a number of Silicon Valley companies.

Meta is also involved in a court case from EU antitrust officials in Brussels, accused of having distorted competition in classified ads.