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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Italy’s data protection authority fined OpenAI €15 million in December 2024 over ChatGPT’s handling of personal data. The Garante said OpenAI failed to report a March 2023 data breach, used users’ personal data to train ChatGPT without first identifying an adequate legal basis, and failed to meet transparency and information duties. The case has since had a major court development: in March 2026, a Rome court accepted OpenAI’s opposition, and the Garante says its 2024 decision was temporarily removed from the authority’s website. The full judgment is needed to establish the ruling’s precise effect.
Why did Italy fine OpenAI?
The Garante per la protezione dei dati personali, Italy’s national data protection authority, announced the €15 million sanction on 20 December 2024. It said OpenAI had committed three principal violations:
- It did not notify the authority about a data breach that occurred in March 2023.
- It processed users’ personal data to train ChatGPT without first identifying an appropriate legal basis.
- It violated transparency requirements and related duties to inform users.
These are the authority’s findings, not a finding by the European Commission. The Garante’s English-language notice describes the decision and its reasons at the authority’s announcement.
What did the penalty require?
Alongside the fine, the Garante ordered OpenAI to carry out a public information campaign lasting six months. The campaign was intended to explain how ChatGPT collects and uses personal data and to inform people of their rights. The authority’s announcement sets out both the sanction and the campaign: Garante decision announcement.
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How did the case begin?
The investigation followed the Garante’s temporary restriction on ChatGPT’s processing of personal data in Italy in March 2023. At that point, the authority raised concerns about what information was provided to users and data subjects, the legal basis for collecting data at scale to train the system, the possibility that ChatGPT could produce inaccurate personal information, and the lack of effective age verification. The Garante’s notice on that earlier measure is available at its March 2023 notice.
OpenAI later worked with the authority to restore ChatGPT in Italy. In response to the 2024 fine, the company called the decision disproportionate and said it would appeal. The Associated Press reported that an OpenAI spokesperson argued the fine was nearly 20 times the company’s revenue in Italy during the relevant period; that was the company’s characterization, not the regulator’s calculation of the sanction’s merits. Associated Press report.
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Was ChatGPT banned in Italy?
The Garante imposed a temporary restriction in March 2023; that was not a permanent ban. OpenAI worked with the authority, and ChatGPT was restored in Italy. The later €15 million sanction was a fine and an information-campaign order, not a new ban.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Was the €15 million fine overturned?
A significant court development occurred after the 2024 decision. The Garante’s current notice says Decision No. 755 of 2 November 2024 was temporarily removed from its website after Rome Court judgment No. 4153/2026, published on 18 March 2026, accepted OpenAI’s opposition. The authority’s notice is available at the Garante’s update.
That update does not give the judgment’s full reasoning or a complete account of the consequences for enforcement. It is therefore accurate to say that the court accepted OpenAI’s opposition and that the decision was temporarily removed from the Garante’s site; it is not enough, by itself, to establish that every aspect of the fine has been finally extinguished. The precise legal effect depends on the judgment and any subsequent proceedings.
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