Ireland’s data regulator confirmed to AFP that Meta has not paid any of the ₹2 billion ($2.2 billion) in fines issued since last September. TikTok also owes hundreds of millions.
Ireland’s data regulator confirmed to AFP that Meta has not paid any of the ₹2 billion ($2.2 billion) in fines issued since last September. TikTok also owes hundreds of millions.
I always wondered what recourse these governments have to enforce these fines.
It’s not like these companies are just refusing to pay their fines, as this article falsely implies. There are ongoing legal disputes. Most of Meta’s “unpaid” fines, for example, are from just six months ago and there are legitimate disagreements on them that are subject to appeal.
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They should do what happens to parking fines here in Finland. If you want to dispute it you can, but you need to pay the original fine or you get interest and late fees added on. As far as I know if you win, you get the original fine returned, not the interest or fees.
Hmm, with some lawsuits going years and years, seems like postponing decisions could save a lot because of the time value of money. Maybe one could make a law to account for a standard opportunity cost per industry to increase the fine amount from the date committed to the date paid.
Of course, that’s understood, but what I wonder about is how would they enforce it? Does Ireland have the capabilities to block all of Meta’s IPs nationwide? If so, what about VPNs? Can they get Apple and Google to delist Meta for Irish citizens? Essentially, I’m wondering about the logistics of enforcement.
If they really wanted to, they could completely kick Meta and Google out of the country. They won’t do that, however, because it will be deeply unpopular with the electorate.
They can do a lot in-between, however. They can, for example, halt all payments from resident accounts to Meta/Google
Even GDPR fines are rarely paid in full. We hear about the levied fine since that’s public, but not the actual payment deal.
Well, they can seize company property.
But the Irish Government and therefore their Data Protection Entity don’t actually want Data Privacy because they earn quite a lot of money with the actual lack thereof.
So they are not going to do anything about it unless they are forced by European Institutions or other European governments.