3 ms·
Fun fact: Whatsapp (Facebook) was recently fined 75 million Euros for this practice under GDPR. To be pedantic, that was one part of a 225-million-Euro fine. B
by lmkg 5y ago
Fun fact: Whatsapp (Facebook) was recently fined 75 million Euros for this practice under GDPR.
To be pedantic, that was one part of a 225-million-Euro fine. But that practice was specifically broken out as one of the line items, with a dollar amount attached.
And to be more pedantic, the fine wasn't for the practice itself. It was for failing to provide notice to the users whose contact info was harvested. In theory, this practice is acceptable under GDPR if the app immediately informs the user whose contact issue was harvested, and gives them an opportunity to reject.
The 225-million-euro fine is still the second-largest fine issued under GDPR, after Amazon's. The 75-million-euro line item were an individual fine, it would be the fourth-largest after (one of) Google's.
- CursedUrn 5y agoDoes that mean Facebook will stop doing it? I find that hard to believe. I doubt the EU understands Facebook's code or servers enough to judge if they're complying.
- digisign 5y agoWith 200+ million it sounds like they'll be able to hire a developer.
- hutzlibu 5y agoThere definitely is technical competence within the EU and also within the burocratic institutions. The thing is just, that the people in charge only listen to them, when it is convenient.
- pc86 5y agoAs an American I have to wonder what it's like to have technical competence within your bureaucratic institutions. We can't even get bureaucratic competence, technical competence is completely out of the question.
- hutzlibu 5y agoThat was my point. I know there are people with technical competence in the institutions, but not necessarily in the top ranks who make the decisions. And for you in the US - I think so, too. I remember the statement of resign of a guy, who had to to reorganize the IT of your military. He did sound technical competent - but he failed at unavoidable command structures which where not and he could not change them.
- zwaps 5y agoGDPR fines are insignificantly small for companies such as Facebook. They will just keep doing illegal things.
- danielbarla 5y agoI agree, though I suspect fines for "repeat offenses" might be less easy to ignore.
- sizzle 5y agoThen keep fining them 200 million until they pay attention
- soco 5y agoOh come on folks. If they do nothing "look at them lazies". If they give fines "look at them incompetents". What exactly should they do to stop those practices and look good in the eyes of HN?
- axegon_ 5y agoThat's true, but more often than not, the benefits that, say Facebook, gains from violating gdpr outweigh the fines they have to pay. Otherwise they would have stopped doing it after the first such fine, yet they keep doing it. Clearly it's paying off.