Italy fines Meta €3.5 million.. Find out why!

The Italian competition watchdog announced that it will impose a fine of €3.5 million on the tech giant Meta due to the lack of information provided to Instagram and Facebook users about the use of their data.

The authority stated in a press release that "during the registration process on Instagram, users did not receive clear information about the collection and use of their data for commercial purposes.

In addition, when Facebook and Instagram accounts were suspended, no useful contact was provided for possible complaints," according to the Swiss radio "Lac".

The authority criticized Meta for not providing an explanation for the reasons that prompted it to suspend Facebook accounts - after an "automated" or "human" examination of the content of these accounts - and for not informing Facebook and Instagram users that they could object to this suspension.

The deadline for objection, set at 30 days, is also considered "short".

For these two “unfair commercial practices,” which Meta put an end to during the Italian procedure, the competition authority imposed a fine of €3.5 million on Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd and its American parent company Meta Platforms Inc.