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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchThe Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) fined Meta Platforms Ireland Limited €91 million in September 2024 for security and breach-reporting failures tied to certain Facebook Lite users’ passwords being logged in plaintext on internal systems. The “$137 million” figure in the original headline is an approximate Canadian-dollar conversion reported by MobileSyrup—not US dollars and not the fine’s euro amount.
What the fine was for
Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (MPIL) told Ireland’s DPC on 21 March 2019 that it had inadvertently stored certain users’ passwords in plaintext. The DPC later opened an inquiry and examined incidents it identified as occurring on 7 January and 31 January 2019.
Plaintext means the passwords were recorded without cryptographic protection. The DPC’s decision summary says password information was available to MPIL staff in a way that could have enabled accounts to be linked with unencrypted passwords. The regulator found the passwords were personal data and that both incidents were personal-data breaches under the GDPR.
The DPC’s case page says MPIL ordinarily used cryptographic and encryption techniques when storing users’ passwords and did not store the individual characters that make up a password. The enforcement concerned the plaintext logging incidents and related security and compliance failures; it did not establish that every Meta password was stored this way.
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What the DPC found
The decision found infringements of four GDPR provisions:
- Article 33(1): MPIL failed to notify the DPC without undue delay about the breach discovered on 31 January 2019.
- Article 33(5): MPIL failed to document the two breaches.
- Article 5(1)(f): The incidents failed to meet the integrity and confidentiality principle.
- Article 32(1): MPIL failed to put appropriate technical and organisational security measures in place.
The DPC issued a reprimand and imposed administrative fines totalling €91 million. Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said in the DPC’s announcement: “It is widely accepted that user passwords should not be stored in plaintext, considering the risks of abuse that arise from persons accessing such data.”
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What is—and is not—known about exposure
The DPC described the affected population as a very large number of EU and EEA Facebook Lite users, but its cited decision summary does not give a precise count. The cited DPC materials also do not establish that an outside attacker obtained the passwords or that accounts were misused. The finding was about insecure plaintext logging inside MPIL’s systems and the company’s handling of the incidents.
As a separate point, the DPC’s 2024 annual report says Meta appealed the decision. That report does not establish the appeal’s current procedural status.
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How the case unfolded
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 7 January and 31 January 2019 | Incidents later addressed in the DPC decision summary. |
| 21 March 2019 | MPIL informed the DPC that certain passwords had been inadvertently stored in plaintext. |
| 24 April 2019 | The DPC commenced an inquiry on its own initiative. |
| June 2024 | The DPC submitted its draft decision to EU/EEA supervisory authorities; it said no relevant and reasoned objections were raised. |
| 26 September 2024 | The DPC adopted its final decision and notified MPIL. |
| 27 September 2024 | The DPC publicly announced the reprimand and €91 million in fines. |
Why the $137 million headline needs a currency check
The DPC’s fine was €91 million. MobileSyrup rendered that amount as approximately $137 million in Canadian dollars. It is not a US-dollar fine. Because the headline’s dollar figure is a conversion, the euro amount is the clearest figure for the regulator’s actual decision.
This was an Irish GDPR enforcement decision against MPIL. It should not be confused with the separate US Federal Trade Commission settlement with Facebook announced in 2019, which included requirements concerning password encryption and scans.
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Official records
- DPC announcement of the €91 million fine
- DPC case page: inquiry into Meta Platforms Ireland Limited
- DPC decision summary
- DPC Annual Report 2024
- FTC’s separate 2019 Facebook settlement announcement
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