Facebook hit with more than $400 million in fines for privacy violations

Facebook parent company Meta was hit with a massive fine by Irish regulators this week over the company's personalized ad policies that tailor advertisements to reflect what people do on the Internet. 

The tech giant was slammed with two fines totaling about 390 million euros, a little over $400 million in U.S. dollars. The decision was handed down by Ireland's Data Protection Commission. 

Facebook was found to have violated the European Union's privacy rules by essentially forcing users to agree to have their data shared with advertisers in order to customize ad packages to individual users. 

The company  “is not entitled to rely on the ‘contract’ legal basis to deliver behavioral adverts on Facebook and Instagram," the Irish DPC said. 

Facebook has vowed to appeal the decisions.