Meta has been fined €91 million (approximately $101.6 million) by the Irish Data Protection Commission for a serious security lapse involving user passwords on Facebook. The penalty follows an investigation initiated in 2019 after Meta reported that some passwords were inadvertently stored in plain text, allowing employees potential access to sensitive information.
Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle emphasized that storing passwords in plain text is widely recognized as a significant security risk. In response, Meta acknowledged the issue, stating that a subset of Facebook users’ passwords was temporarily logged in a readable format. However, the company reported no evidence of these passwords being abused or improperly accessed.
Meta claimed it took immediate corrective action and cooperated fully with the Irish regulator throughout the inquiry. This fine adds to a growing list of substantial penalties faced by Meta from the Irish watchdog, which serves as the company’s lead regulator under the EU’s stringent data privacy regulations. Previous fines include €405 million for Instagram’s mishandling of teen data and €1.2 billion for issues related to transatlantic data transfers.
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