第1837期:European Union Fines Meta $1.3 Billion over Privacy Rules

The European Union fined Meta a record $1.3 billion for privacy violations Monday. The EU ordered Meta to stop sending users’ personal information to the United States by October. Meta owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) issued the fine. The punishment came after Meta continued to transfer Europeans’ data beyond a 2020 EU court ruling that struck down an EU-U.S. data transfer agreement. The fine is the biggest since the EU's data privacy rules took effect five years ago. Meta promised to appeal and asked courts to suspend the decision. Earlier, the company had warned that its services could end for users in Europe.

周一，欧盟因侵犯隐私而对 Meta 处以创纪录的 13 亿美元罚款。欧盟命令 Meta 在 10 月之前停止向美国发送用户的个人信息。Meta 拥有 Facebook、Instagram 和 WhatsApp。爱尔兰的数据保护专员 (DPC) 开出了罚单。惩罚是在 Meta 继续将欧洲人的数据转移到 2020 年欧盟法院的一项裁决之后，该裁决推翻了欧盟-美国。数据传输协议。这是自欧盟数据隐私规则五年前生效以来的最高罚款。Meta 承诺上诉并要求法院中止该决定。此前，该公司曾警告称，其服务可能会终止对欧洲用户的服务。

The company said, “There is no immediate disruption to Facebook in Europe.” The decision applies to user information like names, email and IP addresses, messages, viewing history, location data and other information. The company uses the data for targeted online advertisements. Nick Clegg, Meta's president of global affairs, and Jennifer Newstead, the company’s chief legal officer, released a statement. They said the decision was unjust and “sets a dangerous precedent for the countless other companies transferring data between the EU and U.S.” The decision is the latest development in a legal battle that began in 2013. At that time, Austrian lawyer and privacy activist Max Schrems filed a complaint about how Facebook used his data. His complaint came after former U.S. National Security Agency worker Edward Snowden’s disclosure of online surveillance by U.S. security agencies. That included information that Facebook gave to the agencies the personal data of Europeans.

该公司表示，“欧洲的 Facebook 不会立即受到干扰。”该决定适用于用户信息，如姓名、电子邮件和 IP 地址、消息、查看历史记录、位置数据和其他信息。该公司将这些数据用于有针对性的在线广告。Meta 全球事务总裁 Nick Clegg 和公司首席法务官 Jennifer Newstead 发表声明。他们表示，这一决定是不公正的，“为无数其他公司在欧盟和美国之间传输数据树立了一个危险的先例。”该决定是 2013 年开始的法律纠纷的最新进展。当时，奥地利律师和隐私活动家 Max Schrems 就 Facebook 如何使用他的数据提出申诉。他的投诉是在前美国国家安全局工作人员爱德华斯诺登披露美国安全机构的在线监控之后提出的。其中包括 Facebook 向这些机构提供的欧洲人个人数据信息。

The EU has rules that require social media services to block speech that European officials consider harmful. Europe has passed several rules requiring policing of information and control of users' personal information. In 2020, the EU’s top court struck down an agreement covering EU-U.S. data transfers called the Privacy Shield. The court said the measure did not do enough to protect Europeans from the U.S. government's electronic spying. Europe and the United States signed a deal last year on a different Privacy Shield that Meta could use. The agreement is awaiting approval from European officials.

欧盟的规定要求社交媒体服务屏蔽欧洲官员认为有害的言论。欧洲已经通过了几项规则，要求对信息进行监管并控制用户的个人信息。2020 年，欧盟最高法院否决了一项涵盖欧盟与美国的协议。称为隐私盾的数据传输。法院表示，该措施不足以保护欧洲人免受美国政府的电子间谍活动。欧洲和美国去年就 Meta 可以使用的不同隐私盾签署了一项协议。该协议正在等待欧洲官员的批准。

The DPC said it gave Meta five months to stop sending European user data to the U.S. It also gave the company six months to change its operations to stop transferring Europeans’ user data to the U.S. If the new privacy agreement takes effect before these deadlines, "our services can continue as they do today without any disruption or impact on users," Meta said. Schrems thinks Meta has “no real chance” of getting the decision overturned. He said there is a good chance the new agreement could be struck down by the EU's top court.

DPC 表示，它给了 Meta 五个月的时间来停止将欧洲用户数据发送到美国。它还给了该公司六个月的时间来改变其运营方式，以停止将欧洲人的用户数据传输到美国。如果新的隐私协议在这些截止日期之前生效，“我们的服务可以像今天一样继续，不会对用户造成任何干扰或影响，”Meta 说。Schrems 认为 Meta “没有真正的机会”推翻该决定。他说，欧盟最高法院很有可能否决新协议。

"Unless U.S. surveillance laws get fixed, Meta will likely have to keep EU data in the EU,” Schrems said in a statement. Meta warned in its latest earnings report that, without a legal agreement for data transfers, it will stop offering its products and services in Europe. The social media company might have to carry out a costly and complex change to its operations if it has to stop sending user data to the U.S.

施雷姆斯在一份声明中说：“除非美国监管法得到修复，否则 Meta 可能不得不将欧盟数据保留在欧盟。”Meta 在其最新的收益报告中警告说，如果没有数据传输的法律协议，它将停止提供其产品如果这家社交媒体公司不得不停止向美国发送用户数据，那么它可能不得不对其运营进行代价高昂且复杂的变革。