Facebook data breach to be investigated by EU
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A data breach at Facebook which affected 50 million accounts, including five million European ones, is to be investigated by the EU.
The Irish Data Protection Commission (IDPC), the lead supervisory authority for the social media giant in the EU, is taking in information to determine the basis for an inquiry under the General Data Protection Regulation, which was introduced in May this year.
If it is found that the company broke guidelines, it could be fined up to £1.26 billion, or four per cent of annual revenue.
Graham Doyle, head of communications at the IDPC, said: “Before we would launch any investigation there are steps that would have to be taken in relation to information gathering and preparing the scope of an inquiry.
“Furthermore we would need to establish under which provisions of the Data Protection Act 2018 we would conduct it. We are currently engaged in those steps.”
He added: “Facebook has assured us that they will be in a position to provide a further breakdown in relation to more detailed numbers soon.”
Facebook was fined £500,000 in July for a data breach related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
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