The European Union fined Meta more than €90 million: the reason is named.

The Data Protection Commission of Ireland (DPC) fined Meta Platforms (the owner of Facebook) €91 million. For the fact of inadvertently storing some users' passwords without their protection or encryption. According to Reuters, Deputy DPC head Graham Doyle stated that the danger of misuse related to access to such data was recognized.

A Meta representative stated that the company took drastic measures to correct the error after discovering it in 2019 during a security check. The company claims that there was no evidence of misuse or illegal access to the passwords. Meta has positively cooperated with DPC during the investigation, added the company spokesperson in a Friday statement.

The DPC began an investigation into Meta five years ago after the company reported to the DPC about storing some passwords in "plain text". Shortly after, Meta publicly acknowledged the incident, and the DPC confirmed that the passwords were not accessible to third parties.

The DPC is the leading EU regulator for many major American internet companies, as they operate in the EU. Meta has now received a total of €2.5 billion in fines for GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) violations introduced in 2018. In 2023, the highest fine of €1.2 billion was imposed, which Meta is challenging.