Investing.com -- Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) shares slipped in premarket trading on Monday after the European Union's lead privacy regulator fined the Facebook-owner €1.2 billion (€1= $1.0827) over the transfer of personal data to the U.S. from the EU.
The decision marked the biggest penalty yet given to a large technology company over privacy violations, topping a fine of €746M slapped on Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) by regulators in Luxembourg in 2021.
In a statement, Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced that an investigation it had carried out found that Meta Platform's Irish subsidiary had infringed upon EU data transfer rules.
The DPC said Meta Ireland was in breach of a law requiring the company to have "appropriate safeguards" in place when making data transfers to a third country or an international organization. As a result, the DPC recommended that any future transfers made by Meta Ireland to the U.S. should be suspended for the next five months.
Meta Ireland was also ordered to bring its operations in line with EU regulations within six months.
According to the Financial Times, California-based Meta's president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, called the DPC's ruling "flawed." He also told the FT that it "sets a dangerous precedent" for data transfer between companies in the EU and U.S.