Ireland fines Meta 251 mn euros over Facebook hacks [Video]

An Irish regulator helping police European Union data privacy on Tuesday said it had fined Facebook-owner Meta 251 million euros ($263 million) for a data protection failure that saw users’ accounts hacked.

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) criticised Meta for a security flaw in its video upload function which hackers were able to exploit to gain full access to other users’ Facebook profiles.

Over a two-week period in 2018, unauthorised users were able to hack into around 29 million Facebook accounts globally, including three million based in the EU.

The personal data involved included email addresses, phone numbers, locations and places of work.

“The failure to build in data protection requirements throughout the design and development cycle can expose individuals to very serious risks and harms, including a risk to the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals,” said Graham Doyle, the regulator’s head of communications.

“By allowing unauthorised exposure of …