IRELAND’S data privacy watchdog has opened a new investigation into Facebook. The probe will aim to uncover how millions of passwords were stored in insecure “plain text” format by the tech giant.
It is the eleventh statutory inquiry underway by the Irish DPC into Facebook or one of its subsidiaries.
Under GDPR law, the Irish Data Protection Authority can fine Facebook up to €20m or 4pcc of global turnover.
The news comes as Facebook has said it expects to pay a fine of between $3bn and €5bn to US authorities.
“The Data Protection Commission was notified by Facebook that it had discovered that hundreds of millions of user passwords, relating to users of Facebook, Facebook Lite and Instagram, were stored by Facebook in plain text format in itsinternal servers,” said a statement from the Irish DPC.
” We have this week commenced a statutory inquiry in relation to this issue to determine whether Facebook has complied with its obligations under relevant provisions of the GDPR.”
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