Facebook guilty of “security breach” and fined €250 million

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It was only a matter of time before the verdict was handed down, but Facebook has just been convicted of “negligence” leading to a hack. Although the events occurred in 2018, it is at the end of December 2024 that the Irish Data Protection Commission has just given the final point to this story.

As a reminder, in September 2018, the world discovered with horror that a cyberattack had hit the number 1 social network, Facebook. 29 million accounts were affected, with theft of personal data on a scale rarely seen at the time.

Although this hack did not affect Europe much (3 million people out of 29 million victims), it was enough for the DPC (the Irish Data Protection Commission) to step up to the plate. Since Facebook is hosted in the country (for tax reasons), it was the only legitimate institution to attack the social network for its operating flaws.

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Because according to the DPC's conclusions, this hack could have been avoided. For Graham Doyle, head of communications for the Irish regulator, this court decision “ shows how failing to integrate data protection requirements throughout the design and development cycle can expose people to very serious risks and harm “.

A record fine

So, six years after this hack, Facebook has just been fined €251 million. This may seem like a lot, but for a company like this, it is actually a small sum considering the billions of dollars it collects every year.

It is important to note that this record fine, despite its amount, would never have seen the light of day without the adoption, a few months before the attack, of the GDPR. This regulation, which requires digital giants to secure users' personal data, has been hindered according to the DPC.

Meta contests and appeals

However, this vision of things does not please the Meta group at all. Facebook's parent company has also announced that it will appeal the court decision. In a press release defending its version of events, Facebook says it is as much a victim as the people who were robbed.

The social network also assures that it took “immediate measures to resolve the problem” as soon as it was identified. A version contradicted by the DPC, which assures that the bug at the origin of this hack remained online for at least 14 days.

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