Ireland fined Twitter for violating the GDPR

The sanction of the Guarantor amounts to 450 thousand euros and refers to a data breach in 2019. Criticism for the small amount of the fine

(Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images) Twitter was fined by the Irish Data Protection Authority (Dpc) for failing to promptly report and adequately document a data breach suffered in 2018. For the Dublin authority, this delay is a violation of the GDPR, the European Data Protection Regulation, and an administrative fine of 450 thousand euros has been imposed against the social network.

This ruling is important since Twitter is the first multinational in the world of social networks to be fined by the Irish Guarantor, which is the main privacy supervisor of the European Union, given that the main platforms of the web. On the other hand, the amount of the fine is very low compared to the percentages of turnover that the GDPR can reach and that the authorities of other European countries were asking for. Given that Ireland hosts the main companies in the sector, its guarantor is considered softer in the application of the sanctions related to the European regulation.

The case

The investigation, concluded with the fine on Twitter began in January 2019 after the Guarantor received a notification of violation from Twitter following a bug that affected the social network's Android application. According to the results of the investigation, the social network presented that notification with considerable delay and without due documentation, thus violating articles 33 and 35 of the Gdpr.

The European regulation requires that violations of personal data of users are notified to the competent supervisory authorities within a maximum of 72 hours from the moment they become aware of the data breach.

The Gdpr also requires that, together with the notification, it documents what data was involved and how the security incident was responded to. All this information is necessary for the supervisory authority to verify the compliance of the actions performed at that juncture.

Twitter, however, in this case has missed both objectives due to what Damien Kieran, chief privacy officer and Twitter's global data protection officer, defines it as “an unforeseen consequence of hiring staff between Christmas 2018 and New Year's Day”. He was therefore fined, as stated in the press release from the Irish Supervisor.

“We take responsibility for this error and remain fully committed to protecting the privacy and data of our customers, including through our work to inform quickly and in a transparent way the public of the problems that occur, ”Damien Kieran told Wired.

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Topics

Gdpr Privacy Social Network Twitter globalData.fldTopic = "Gdpr, Privacy, Social Network, Twitter "

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