Facebook hit with record $1.3 bln fine by EU

STORY: Meta was hit with a record $1.3 billion fine on Monday (May 22).

The European Union's lead privacy regulator punished the tech giant for its handling of user information.

It also gave Meta five months to stop transferring users' data to the U.S.

Meta said it would appeal the ruling, and called the fine 'unjustified and unnecessary'.

The EU has been in a long-running battle with Meta over where Facebook stores its data.

Meta pointed towards a new data protection framework agreed by the EU and U.S. government last year.

The firm said last month it expected the agreement would be fully implemented before it had to suspend transfers.

That would mean its previous warning that a stoppage could force it to suspend Facebook in Europe will not happen.

Officials have said the framework could be in place by July, but Meta also warned it might not be ready in time.

The penalty was far higher than the EU's previous record fine for privacy violations.

That was held by Amazon.com, which was fined 746 million euros, or over $800 million, back in 2021.