As part of the GDPR, the Irish digital data protection authority has fined the social network Twitter a fine of 450,000 euros.

She criticizes the company for not having sufficiently protected the personal data of its users.

The American digital giants have set up their European headquarters in Ireland and it is therefore up to Dublin to supervise them on behalf of the EU.

The social network Twitter was fined Tuesday of 450,000 euros from the Irish digital data protection authority for not having sufficiently protected the personal data of its users.

The regulator, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), the equivalent of the French CNIL, announced in a press release the conclusion of an investigation related to the "General Data Protection Regulation" (GDPR) started in January 2019.

"The administrative fine is effective, proportionate and dissuasive"

He estimated that the social network had not properly informed the regulator within 72 hours after a breach in data protection for users.

The DPC considers that Twitter "did not notify it in time" of a computer breach, and considers that "the administrative fine of 450,000 euros is effective, proportionate and dissuasive".

This is the first notable decision taken by the Irish authority under the GDPR regulation, launched in 2018 and which gives more power to regulators to protect consumers in the face of the domination of Facebook, Google, Apple and Twitter.

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The GDPR plays its credibility

The decision involves regulatory authorities from different European countries and illustrates the complexity of the EU's new data protection mechanism, which plays part of its credibility in this case.

The American digital giants have set up their European headquarters in Ireland, attracted by advantageous taxation, and it is therefore up to Dublin to supervise them on behalf of the European Union (EU), in particular with regard to the use of personal data.

The Irish Data Protection Commission has opened numerous investigations - around 20 are underway according to TechCrunch - but so far had not imposed a significant fine.

However, the fine is much lower than what the GDPR could have decided, which provided that Twitter could be fined equivalent to 4% of its annual worldwide turnover, or up to $ 140 million given the income of $ 3.5 billion in 2019.