And now we are witnessing a rather funny episode in the history of the protection of personal data since the European Union has just been formed catch your hand in the cookie jar by… herself!
A German citizen, a fan of European conferences (to each his own), decided to register for the Conference on the Future of Europe via the European Commission website. So far, almost nothing unusual, except that our Teutonic friend uses the button “Log in with Facebook” present on the page of the European Union website and there… BOOM!
Without knowing it, he has just put his finger on a great administrative mistake. His personal data passed through Amazon Web Services before happily landing on Meta’s servers in the United States, all without his explicit consent. In other words, the EU has done exactly what it has been condemning for years!
Obviously, European justice, in its great wisdom (and sense of humor), condemned the European Commission to pay a fine of… 400 euros for non-compliance with the GDPR! For comparison:
-- Meta/Facebook: 1.3 billion euros fine
- Amazon : 887 millions d’euros
- WhatsApp : 232 millions d’euros
- Instagram : 417 millions d’euros
Of course, we are not on the same scales in terms of attendance or abuse regarding the GDPR, but beyond the symbolic amount, it is the principe who counts. In this world where law-makers generally escape their own rules, Europe proves that it knows how to be fair, even if exemplarity would have deserved a few additional zeros.
I imagine that next time, the EU will remember to check whether it complies with the GDPR before integrating Facebook buttons on its sites. In the meantime, we can welcome this proof that European justice works, even if it sometimes has to shamefully bite its own hand!
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