European Union fines itself for breaking their own privacy laws

The European General Court recently determined that the European Commission must pay damages to an EU citizen for failing to comply with its own laws.

European Union fines itself for breaking their own privacy laws
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TL;DR: The European General Court ruled that the European Commission must pay damages to an EU citizen for violating its own data protection laws. This decision highlights the EU's commitment to enforcing data protection, even against itself, amidst a backdrop of significant fines for tech giants.

'Trust no one, not even yourself' is the theme of the latest ruling from the European General Court. In an inspiring display of personal accountability, the EU General Court determined on Wednesday that the European Commission is to pay damages to an EU citizen for failing to comply with EU data protection regulations. Yes, you read that correctly.

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The citizen in question used the 'Sign in with Facebook' login option on the EU's webpage to register for a conference. The courts determined that this transfer of user information to Meta Platforms in the US was a violation of their own data-protection laws, and promptly ordered that the citizen be paid 400 Euros in damages.

While the equivalent $412 USD might not seem like much (from a legal perspective): in a market comprised of regular data breaches and questionable handling of user data - it is promising to see even the smallest of violations being enforced on a judicial level. Particularly when it involves the government fining themselves.

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The EU has some of the most stringent data protection laws in the world, which include the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). These regulations have been responsible for a multitude of high-profile court rulings, including a €1.2 billion (USD $1,246,458,000) fine imposed on Meta in 2023 and a €746 million (USD $774,859,644) fine against Amazon in 2021. While the €400 (USD $415) fine to the EU is not much: the example they've set is a promising showing of ethical responsibility in tech.

This fine comes before the European Commission put X in its sights by requesting the Elon Musk-owned social media platform hand over documents regarding its content recommendation alogirthm as part of its investigation into whether X has violated any of the Commissions data protection laws. More on that story below.

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NEWS SOURCE:reuters.com

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Jak joined the TweakTown team in 2017 and has since reviewed 100s of new tech products and kept us informed daily on the latest science, space, and artificial intelligence news. Jak's love for science, space, and technology, and, more specifically, PC gaming, began at 10 years old. It was the day his dad showed him how to play Age of Empires on an old Compaq PC. Ever since that day, Jak fell in love with games and the progression of the technology industry in all its forms.

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