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Proceedings brought by Meta regarding the fine can now go ahead, in advance of a related case in an EU court.
The Court of Appeals has overturned a decision made by the High Court, which halted Meta’s challenge to a €265m fine imposed by the Data Protection Commission, while a related EU case was pending.
The Data Protection Commission issued the fine in relation to a Facebook data breach that affected 533m people. Reportedly, the database was attacked, with sensitive information such as phone numbers, Facebook IDs, names, locations, birthdates and, in some cases, email addresses, becoming vulnerable.
In May of 2024, Justice Garrett Simons of the High Court said that the fine, which had been issued two years prior, would not come into effect legally until the EU Court of Justice had resolved another appeal relating to Meta’s other platform WhatsApp.
Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd, which is the data controller for Facebook and has its European headquarters in Ireland, brought the statutory appeal regarding the fines. The social media outlet has also instituted a judicial review, which is intended to challenge the constitutional validity of the Data Protection Act 2018, particularly in relation to giving a non-judicial group the power to impose heavy fines.
Speaking for the three-judge Court of Appeals, Justice Anthony M Collins allowed the appeal and set aside the High Court’s ruling that adjourned the proceedings. He noted that the decision to stall proceedings was preventing either party from reaching a quick or efficient solution and that there was no apparent risk of conflict from allowing the appeal to stand.
Also this week, Appeals Centre Europe (ACE) issued more than 150 decisions related to social media platforms Facebook and TikTok. Certified by Ireland’s media watchdog Coimisiún na Meán, ACE is an independent body established to address complaints raised by online users in the EU against social media platforms.
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