Meta, the parent company of social media giant Facebook, has been hit with a $102 million fine by the European Union for a 2019 password security lapse. The Irish Data Protection Commission imposed the penalty after investigating the incident, in which some passwords were stored in plain text internally, making it possible for employees to access them. Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle stated that storing user passwords in plain text is risky and goes against widely accepted security practices.
Meta acknowledged the error and stated that only a “subset” of Facebook users’ passwords were temporarily logged in a readable format. The company took immediate action to rectify the issue and reported it to the Irish Data Protection Commission. This fine is the latest in a series of penalties imposed on Meta by the EU regulator, including fines for Instagram and WhatsApp over data mishandling.
These fines highlight the ongoing challenges Meta faces in complying with the EU’s strict data privacy regulations. The company has been actively engaged with regulators throughout the inquiry process and has emphasized that there is no evidence of the improperly accessed passwords being abused. Despite these efforts, it is clear that Meta must continue to prioritize data security to avoid further financial penalties and maintain user trust in their platforms.
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