Meta, the umbrella company of platforms with millions of users such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, was again heavily fined by the European Union. Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), announced that the US-based tech giant will have to pay hundreds of millions of dollars due to the use of user data.

This fine, which could jeopardize Meta’s advertising business, was issued because of what happened on Facebook and Instagram. DPC’s statement said the company is violating European Union privacy rules on Facebook $222 million, Due to similar violations on Instagram, $191 million was given to pay. This adds up to Meta in total. $413 million showed that he had been punished.

Penalties for forcibly displaying personalized ads to users on Instagram and Facebook

Sanctions, violation European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GPDR) stems from complaints received in 2018 when it came into effect. As is known, users are asked to accept the terms of service when they sign up for Facebook and Instagram. In this contract, which is accepted by most people without being read, collecting data for personalized advertisements contains sections.

Due to Meta’s terms of service, users are asked to “show personalized ads on complaints.”forced’ expressed. The regulator decided after consultation with the European Data Protection Board that the company did not consider its updates clear enough and could not rely on the contract.

The DPC also says that Meta cannot use its contracts to justify showing Facebook and Instagram users personalized ads. This suggests that Meta may need to give users the option to opt out of such ads in order to comply. In addition to fines, the activities of Meta within three months It was also one of the statements that it had to be GDPR compliant.

Meta says the decision won’t prevent it from serving targeted ads

The technology giant said it disagreed with the decision. To object He said he intended. The company, led by Mark Zuckerberg, also stated that these decisions will not prevent targeted advertising, but are evaluating different ways to ensure they continue to provide fully personalized advertising services. We can say that these statements are quite normal, because the main task of the company is to serve targeted advertisements by collecting large amount of user data.

The $413 million fine comes on top of the massive fines Meta has recently received. The company had last week agreed to pay a $725 million fine for the US election scandal that saw user data sold to Cambridge-Analytica. In addition, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced in late November that Meta has been fined $275 million for leaking information from millions of Facebook users.