Leak of 533m people’s data: Facebook may face Rs525b fine as probe starts

DUBLIN: Europe's leading privacy regulator is investigating whether Facebook broke the law in its handling of a leak of over 533 million people's phone numbers and personal data, foreign media reported.

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, the body charged with overseeing Facebook's privacy compliance in the European Union, announced it had opened an investigation into the social media giant on Wednesday. If Facebook is found to have violated the EU's data rules, it could face a monetary fine of up to 4% of its $86 billion global revenue (Rs525 billion). In a statement, the DPC said it believes EU data rules "may have been, and/or are being, infringed in relation to Facebook Users' personal data."

The personal data of over 533 million Facebook users were dumped online for free in a hacking forum earlier this month. A Facebook spokesperson said in a statement that the company is "cooperating fully" with the investigation, adding that the DPC is probing a now-patched vulnerability in a Facebook tool that made it possible to gather information about a Facebook user by entering their phone number.