Meta Fined By Norway's Regulator Datatilsynet Over Privacy Breaches: Report

Datatilsynet, Norway's regulatorhas said that Meta cannot harvest user data in Norway, such as users’ physical locations, and use it to target advertising at them.

Meta has maintained that the decision would not have any impact on its services.

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Social networking giant and Facebook parent Meta would be fined by Norway's data protection authority over privacy breaches, the media has reported. Meta would be fined one million crowns or $100,000 per day, reported news agency Reuters on Monday. Starting from the August 4, Meta would be penalised every day until November 3, unless the compnay takes action, the report added. According to regulator Datatilsynet, Norway's regulator, the company cannot harvest user data in Norway, such as users’ physical locations, and use it to target advertising at them, called behavioural advertising, a business model common to Big Tech.

Datatilsynet has referred its decision to the European Data Protection Board. The fine could be permanent and widen the decision's territorial scope in Europe.

"It is so clear that this is illegal that we need to intervene now and immediately. We cannot wait any longer," Tobias Judin, head of Datatilsynet's international section, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Meta has maintained that the decision would not have any impact on its services and that it would review Datatilsynet's decision. The regulator's decision comes days after the European Union's (EU) top court ruled Meta cannot harvest user data for behavioural advertising. The EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) is said to be the reason why Meta-owned Instagram Threads has not launched and won't be unveiled in the region anytime soon.

Even as the Meta spokesperson and other Meta executives have avoided "putting the blame any one of Europe’s many tech regulations" for the delay in the launch of Instagram Threads, recent interviews with Instagram head Adam Mosseri have indicated that EU’s Digital Markets Act is the reason behind the delay. As per Europe's DMA, tech companies such as Meta cannot mix data it collects from its suite of apps such as Facebook, Instagram and Threads.