On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the European Union (EU) privacy regulators have fined social media giant Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) $1.3 billion for data privacy violations as the company sent user information to the U.S. Government. The company has also been asked to stop sending user data to the U.S. by October.
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Shares of META were on a downswing in pre-market trading at the time of publishing on Monday.
This penalty is one of the biggest since the EU’s strict data privacy regime came into effect five years ago and surpasses the €746 million penalty paid by Amazon (AMZN) in 2021 for data protection violations.
Meta has decided to appeal this decision and commented, “This decision is flawed, unjustified and sets a dangerous precedent for the countless other companies transferring data between the EU and U.S..”
Analysts are bullish on META stock with a Strong Buy consensus rating based on 39 Buys, five Holds, and two Sells.
