On Friday, 27 September 2024, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) announced its decision to fine Meta €91 million concerning its investigation into the company's password storage practices, which were found to have violated the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
In 2019, Meta notified the DPC that it had "inadvertently stored certain passwords of social media users in 'plaintext' on its internal systems." An ensuing DPC investigation identified that Meta had failed to document and notify the DPC of a personal data breach concerning the storage of user passwords in plaintext, an infringement of Articles 33(1) and 33(5). The DPC also found Meta to have violated Articles 5(1)(f) and 32(1) of the GDPR for failing to use appropriate technical or organisational measures to ensure appropriate security of users' passwords against unauthorised processing.
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