Facebook owner Meta has been fined €91 million following an investigation by the Irish Data Protection Commission.
The commission announced its final decision following an inquiry into Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (MPIL) on Friday.
The inquiry opened in April 2019 after Meta notified the commission it had inadvertently stored certain passwords of social media users in “plaintext” on its internal systems without cryptographic protection or encryption.
The decision, which was made by commissioners for data protection Dr Des Hogan and Dale Sunderland, includes a reprimand and a fine of €91 million.
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“It is widely accepted that user passwords should not be stored in plaintext, considering the risks of abuse that arise from persons accessing such data,” said Mr Sunderland.
“It must be borne in mind, that the passwords the subject of consideration in this case, are particularly sensitive, as they would enable access to users’ social media accounts.”
The commission said it will publish the full decision and further related information in due course.
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