EU Court fines European Commission for failing to comply with its own laws

On January 8, 2025, the EU General Court made a ruling that nobody could've seen coming. The court fined the European Commission itself €400 (around $412) for breaking its own data protection laws.

It all began when a German citizen signed up for a conference organized by the European Commission. The European Commission had a bunch of common sign-in options, including "Sign in with Facebook" on its website, which the citizen had used to sign in and enroll for the conference. However, during the sign-in process, some of their personal information, like their IP address and browser details, was sent to Meta Platforms, the parent company behind Facebook, which is located in the United States.

The EU Court found that the European Commission did not follow the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a law designed to protect personal data for EU citizens. According to the GDPR, any transfer of personal data outside the EU must have strong protections to ensure people's privacy is respected. During the sign-in process, the Commission didn't really show that it had taken any necessary precautions to protect the individual's data when it was sent to the U.S., which is a serious violation of the GDPR.

Of course, the fine is small, and it doesn't compare to the millions and billions of euros the EU court has fined big tech for failing GDPR violations over the last several years. Amazon was fined €746 million in July 2021 for using personal data without proper consent, Instagram was fined €405 million in September 2021, while WhatsApp was also fined €225 million in September 2021 for failing to provide transparent information about data processing.

Due to stringent regulations such as the GDPR and the newly enacted Digital Markets Act (DMA), many tech companies have begun delaying the release of new features in the European Union, as vetting the products for compliance often takes additional time.

The European Commission acknowledged the court's decision and plans to review it for their future practices.

Source: Reuters