Norwegian Datatilsynet fines Meta over privacy breaches

Meta has been fined $100,000 per day from August 4 to November 3 over privacy breaching unless it takes remedial action, said Norway’s data protection authority, Datatilsynet on Monday.

Meta cannot harvest user data in Norway, like users’ physical locations, and use it to target advertising at them, Datatilsynet added.

“It is so clear that this is illegal that we need to intervene now and immediately. We cannot wait any longer,” said Tobias Judin, head of Datatilsynet’s international section.

Datatilsynet’s decision is related to European Data Protection Board, which could make the fine permanent and widen its territorial scope in Europe.

The Norwegian authority’s decision follows the European Union’s top court ruling Meta cannot harvest user data for behavioral advertising, and the data regulator in Ireland (DPC) said Meta had to stop the practice.

“We continue to constructively engage with the Irish DPC, our lead regulator in the EU, regarding our compliance with its decision. The debate around legal bases has been ongoing for some time and businesses continue to face a lack of regulatory certainty in this area,” said Meta.