The era that we live in has become a digital era and the more
the technology is growing, the more there is breach of rules and regulations. There
is a charge on Instagram of incorrectly handling data of children active on
this platform. The Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) of Ireland has decided to
fine Instagram 405 million Euro or $402 million for violating the General Data
Protection Regulation (GDPR). The parent company of Instagram, Meta has already
made an announcement to appeal this decision. Although it appears that this sum
of money is quite high, but it is not the most significant amount of money that
a company had to pay in the history of the GDPR.
As the chart shows, on the top of the list comes Amazon, another member of GAFAM. Luxembourg's data watchdog issued the European branch of the multi-billion dollar tech firm a fine of approximately $740 million, in July of 2021, in current prices for the "non-compliance with general data processing principles" according to the GDPR Enforcement Tracker by CMS Law. The third place on the list of highest fines is taken by WhatsApp, followed by three counts of Google violating the GDPR, Facebook and Swedish fashion company H&M.
The regulatory framework proposed by the GDPR is aimed to give the users more control over their data. Their groundwork is laid on issuing companies fine who offer their services in the EU for breaching its articles. The GDPR was appointed on May 25th, 2018 as a replacement for the EU's Data Protection Directive from 1995, covering 99 articles. The GDPR Enforcement Tracker lists 1,372 individual breaches of the GDPR till date. Still the data is most likely incomplete since all fines cannot be made public.
