© Unsplash/Christian Lue
Six years ago, the European Union began to apply the General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR, which governs the way personal data is processed online. And during this period between May 2018 and May 2024, the regulatory bodies responsible for applying this regulation have not been idle.
Recently, the company NordLayer, parent company of NordVPN, published a study on the application of the GDPR and the fines imposed. This indicates that in six years, more than 2,000 GDPR violations have been sanctioned. And as of May 2024, the total fines imposed in Europe exceed 4.5 billion euros.
Very heavy fines for Meta
It should also be noted that more than half of these 4.5 billion euros were inflicted on Meta, the parent company of Facebook. In 2023, the company received two fines of 1.2 billion euros and 390 million euros in Ireland. In 2022, further fines of €265 million and €405 million were imposed on Meta by the Irish authorities.
We can also cite a fine of 225 million euros for WhatsApp in 2021 in Ireland, and a fine of 60 million euros for Facebook, in France.“The company operates multiple platforms with billions of users, each generating vast amounts of data. Ensuring that all data processing activities meet GDPR standards is a monumental task”, comments NordLayer, regarding these multiple fines imposed on the Meta group.
France has already imposed a record fine on Google
Otherwise, as Ireland is home to the European offices of many digital giants, like Meta or TikTok, this one has the highest total of fines imposed under the application of the GDPR. In total, the Irish authorities imposed a fine of 2.8 billion euros. In this ranking, Ireland is followed by Luxembourg, then France.
On the other hand, if we do not only take into account the amounts of the fines, the classification is completely different. According to NordLayer, the Spanish CNIL is considered the most active data protection authority in Europe. In 2023, Spain announced 367 sanctions for GDPR violations, with a total of 29.8 million euros in fines. NordLayer also places Italy and Germany in its Top 3.
- GDPR came into force in 2018
- Since then, more than 2,000 violations have been sanctioned
- And more than 4.5 billion of euros in fines were imposed
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