The Social media giant Facebook is in trouble for violating the privacy laws. The Spanish Data Protection Agency(AEPD) has fined Facebook with 1.2 million euros (around $1.4 million).
According to the Spanish authorities, Facebook has breached the laws regarding the privacy of the users in three instances. The AEPD observed that Facebook is collecting the personal data of Spanish users such as religious beliefs, ideology, sex, personal interests and their browsing data without their consent. According to them, the privacy policy of Facebook contains generic and unclear terms.
The AEPD also found that Facebook doesn’t delete the data collected from its users after the finish of using. It also tracks people with the Like button plugin embedded in other web pages.
A Facebook’s spokesperson condemned this by saying:
“We take note of the DPA’s decision with which we respectfully disagree. Whilst we value the opportunities we’ve had to engage with the DPA to reinforce how seriously we take the privacy of people who use Facebook, we intend to appeal this decision.
“As we made clear to the DPA, users choose which information they want to add to their profile and share with others, such as their religion. However, we do not use this information to target adverts to people.”
“Facebook has long complied with EU data protection law through our establishment in Ireland. We remain open to continuing to discuss these issues with the DPA, whilst we work with our lead regulator the Irish Data Protection Commissioner as we prepare for the EU’s new data protection regulation in 2018.”
Facebook won an appeal in Belgium in 2016 against a similar violation of privacy of data, by successfully proclaiming that its base in Ireland means that it’s only subject to Irish law. However with a $9.3 billion turnover, $1.4 million is hardly a slap for Facebook.
