Ireland fines Twitter $547,000 under new data law

ANKARA

Twitter has been fined €450,000 ($547,000) by Ireland’s data regulator for making private tweets public, the first such move under new EU data privacy laws.

Under a 2019 probe, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission found that Twitter breached the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation and also failed to adequately document the breach, said a commission statement on Tuesday.

The decision is the first “big tech case” on which all EU supervisory authorities were consulted, it added.

The fine was related to a 2019 data breach in Twitter’s app where some users’ tweets that were supposed to be protected were made public.

The General Data Protection Regulation is a 2018 European Union law meant to preserve individuals' privacy and protect their data from illegal use.

In response to the decision, Twitter said: “We take full responsibility for this mistake and remain fully committed to protecting the privacy and data of our customers, including through our work to quickly and transparently inform the public of issues that occur. We’re sorry it happened.”