Several years later, the company is finally being penalized by the Irish DPC with a 251M Euros fine as it feels the tech giant did not do enough to ensure users’ security on the platform.
Meta was slammed for not providing protection against cyberattacks where criminals exploited a vulnerability inside FB’s code.
This sort of exploit enabled them to use the page’s ‘View As’ so that they could get a hold of others’ data with ease. From email IDs to phone numbers and even exact locations, the list was full of shocking sensitive data including names of kids and their information.
This was a clear case of not providing the right kind of data protection measures to safeguard users and therefore putting them at a very high risk of harm. Most profiles on FB entail data related to issues like religion and politics as well as intimate life which many don’t wish to disclose to the public.
In the EU, more than 3M users were impacted by such a breach where the GDPR was violated unlawfully by the company. Now the company is not staying hush on the matter, adding that it will appeal this decision.
It’s quite similar to that seen in 2018 when Meta explained how it highlighted the matter as soon as it was put on public view. But that is not the last of Meta’s concerns. The tech giant was blasted over its involvement in the infamous Cambridge Analytica scandal in Australia. It explained how the firm is now settling the matter by fining Meta for violating the privacy and security of Australian citizens.
While the exact details of this scheme are still under cover, it’s clear that this is a strong message to the world that they need to be more careful about users’ sensitive data. For those still wondering what this scandal was all about, well it dates back to 2013. Five years after that, it became an infamous name thanks to the data put out by millions of users.
This was used to target them with messages about politics such as the 2016 US elections period. It also took on their private data through other apps owned by third parties like This is Your Digital Life which was made in 2013. It was enabled by Meta who chose to do this. The figure adds that close to 311,074 people on FB who were friends with users on the app were also likely to be impacted.
As far as how this payment scheme works, well, it’s part of legal proceedings and so payments are set up by Facebook’s parent firm but carried out by another third party. Anyone who had an account on the app between 2013 November to December 2015, was present in Australia for at least a month during that timeframe and downloaded the This Is Your Digital Life app, or was friends on Facebook with those having the app will be liable to receive payments.
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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World
