Meta Platforms Attempts to Prevent Penalty for Privacy Infringement in Norway
OSLO: Meta Platforms is asking a Norwegian court to stop a fine imposed by the Nordic data protection authority on the owner of Facebook and Instagram for violating users’ privacy, according to a court filing.
Meta Platforms will be fined 1 million kroner ($97,700) a day from August 14 for privacy violations, Norway’s data protection authority told Reuters on Monday in a decision that could have wider European implications.
Meta Platforms is seeking a temporary injunction, according to the court filing. Its appeal will be presented on August 22 in a two-day hearing.
Meta Platforms did not respond to a request for comment. The company’s Norwegian lawyer did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Norway’s data protection authority, Datatilsynet, said Meta Platforms is working to stop the fine.
“They are saying that the court should suspend our order pending a full trial,” Tobias Judin, head of Datatilsynet’s international division, told Reuters. “Datatilsynet claims that the order has no basis.”
The regulator has said Meta cannot collect user data in Norway, such as users’ physical location, and use it to target them with advertising, called behavioral advertising, a business model common to Big Tech.
The fine is valid until November 3. Datatilsynet can make it permanent by transferring its decision to the European Data Protection Board, which has the authority to do so, provided it accepts the Norwegian regulator’s decision.
This could also expand the territorial scope of the decision to the rest of Europe.
Datatilsynet had not yet taken this step.
