Facebook owner Meta Platforms will be fined 1 million kroner ($98,500) a day for privacy violations from Aug. 14, Norway’s data protection agency told Reuters on Monday, a decision that could have wider implications in Europe .
Regulator Datatilsynet said on July 17 that it would be fined if the company did not address privacy breaches the watchdog found.
Meta Platforms did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Datatilsynet has said that Meta cannot collect user data in Norway, such as users’ physical location, and use this data to serve them targeted advertising (known as behavioral advertising), which is a common business model for large technology companies.
It has until Aug. 4 to demonstrate to regulators that it has addressed the issue.
“From next Monday, a fine of 1 million crowns per day will be imposed,” Tobias Judin, head of Datatilsynet’s international division, told Reuters.
Fines will last until November 3rd. Datatilsynet can make its decision permanent by submitting it to the European Data Protection Board, which has the power to do so if it agrees with the Norwegian supervisory authority’s decision.
It could also extend the territorial scope of the decision to other parts of Europe. Datatilsynet hasn’t taken that step yet.
Meta said last week that it intends to ask EU users for consent before allowing companies to target ads based on what users browse on services such as Facebook and Instagram.
Zhu Ding said this step is not enough. Meta must cease processing personal data immediately until the consent mechanism is up and running.
“According to Meta, they’re months away from implementing it at the earliest … and we don’t know what the consent mechanism will look like,” Judin said.
“At the same time, people’s rights are being violated every day.”
Meta said the change, to meet regulatory requirements in the region, stems from an order issued by Meta’s main EU regulator, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, in January to reassess its legal basis for targeting ads.
Norway is not a member of the European Union, but is part of the European single market.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
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