Twitter was fined 450,000 euros in Ireland (illustration).

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SOPA Images / SIPA

Twitter was fined Tuesday 450,000 euros in Ireland 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.

He considered that the social network "did not notify him in time" - that is to say within 72 hours - of a computer breach in the protection of data for users.

The DPC indicates that "the administrative fine of 450,000 euros is effective, proportionate and dissuasive".

A significant first

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.

The decision involves regulatory authorities from different European countries and illustrates the complexity of the new EU mechanism on data protection.

The American digital giants have set up their European headquarters in Ireland, attracted by favorable taxation.

It is therefore up to Dublin to supervise them on behalf of the European Union (EU), in particular as regards the use of personal data.

The DPC opened numerous investigations but had not yet imposed a significant fine.

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

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  • High Tech

  • Ireland

  • Personal data

  • Twitter

  • GDPR