EU can sentence Facebook to a fine of up to $ 1.63 billion for massive offense

Facebook could be fined $ 1.63 billion by a European privacy watchdog for a recent data breach announced Friday that would have compromised the personal information of more than 50 million users.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Irish Data Protection Commission, Facebook's main regulator in Europe, said on Saturday that it required more information on the nature and extent of piracy.

The new stringent regulation came into effect in May and aims to protect user data for individuals within the European Union. Under the law, companies that do not adequately protect users' data are liable to a fine of up to 20 million euros ($ 23 million), or 4% of the figure. overall annual business of the company compared with the previous year, according to the largest sum.

In the case of Facebook, the maximum fine would be $ 1.63 billion, according to the newspaper. The case is likely to determine whether Facebook has taken appropriate steps to protect its user data prior to the breach, he added.

Companies are also required to notify regulators within 3 days of a possible violation, by imposing a maximum fine of 2% of their overall business turnover. The Irish Data Protection Commission said that Facebook had notified the violation within this period, although the report "lacks details," the newspaper added.

But the occurrence of a breach of security is not enough to justify a fine, and the fines imposed by the new law on the protection of privacy still need to be tested. According to the Journal, EU regulators often refuse to impose a maximum fine when a company has cooperated fully with an investigation.

On Friday, the tech company revealed that it had detected a security breach in which attackers had access to the personal information of about 50 million Facebook users.

Hackers also had access to personal information from third-party applications and services, such as Tinder, Spotify, Airbnb, and Instagram, which allow users to sign in through their Facebook account.

It is difficult to know who was behind the attack and whether specific people were targeted.

But we know at least two high-profile victims in this data breach: Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, and the director of operations, Sheryl Sandberg. A spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider that the company's two key executives had been affected.