European Tribunal fines European Commission for breaching Data Protection

The European court recently handed down a somewhat surprising fine. The European court fined the European Commission €400 for violating its own data protection laws. The case originated in Germany when a citizen registered for a conference organized by the European Commission. The platform used by the organization for registration had various options, including one that allowed users to log in with their Facebook accounts, making the process simpler by using their Facebook profile data.

The citizen in question used this functionality to register, but during the process, several personal data points were shared with Meta, which is based in the US. These data points included the user’s IP address and browser details, which were directly sent to Meta.

The European Court found that the European Commission had violated its own data protection rules by allowing personal information to be sent outside of Europe, specifically to Meta in the US. At the same time, during the registration process, the European Commission did not provide details on how user information would be protected.

The fine imposed is relatively small, but it certainly demonstrates that even the entity responsible for creating and upholding data protection laws in Europe is not able to fully comply with them. The European Commission has agreed with the court’s decision and has stated that it will take measures to prevent such a situation from happening again in the future.