Ireland fined Twitter over a data breach that led to some private tweets being made public.
The social media company was fined €450,000 ($547,000) by the country's data protection watchdog – the first sanction against a US company under a new system that enforces European Union data protection laws.
Twitter broke the regulations by failing to report the breach within the required 72 hours, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission said on Tuesday. Twitter was also fined over its “failure to adequately document the breach".
The administrative fine was levied as “an effective, proportionate and dissuasive measure”, the Irish watchdog said.
Twitter last year alerted the Irish authority to a potentially disabled privacy setting that put some devices running on Google’s Android mobile operating system at risk.
The watchdog's investigation started in January 2019. Because it potentially affected users throughout the EU, the regulator had to send the draft findings of its inquiry to other authorities, dragging out a process that critics said took far too long.
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU makes Ireland the lead regulator for Twitter, Facebook, Apple and Google in the bloc, because all have their EU headquarters in the country.
GDPR has been in force since 2018, but the Twitter case is the first using a new dispute resolution system under which one lead national regulator makes a decision before consulting the other EU watchdogs.
Some EU regulators objected to Ireland's preliminary Twitter ruling when it was issued in May, triggering a referral to the dispute resolution body, the European Data Protection Board, to secure a two-thirds majority among member states.
Twitter said that the delay in reporting the 2018 data breach was an "unanticipated consequence of staffing between Christmas Day 2018 and New Year's Day" and that it had made changes so future incidents would be reported in a timely fashion.
Twitter said at the time: "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."
The Irish watchdog, which has launched more than 20 major inquiries into US technology companies, has the power to impose fines for breaches of up to 4 per cent of a company's global revenue or €20 million, whichever is higher.
Twitter is the subject of at least one other inquiry by the Irish regulator.
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Thanksgiving meals to try
World Cut Steakhouse, Habtoor Palace Hotel, Dubai. On Thursday evening, head chef Diego Solis will be serving a high-end sounding four-course meal that features chestnut veloute with smoked duck breast, turkey roulade accompanied by winter vegetables and foie gras and pecan pie, cranberry compote and popcorn ice cream.
Jones the Grocer, various locations across the UAE. Jones’s take-home holiday menu delivers on the favourites: whole roast turkeys, an array of accompaniments (duck fat roast potatoes, sausages wrapped in beef bacon, honey-glazed parsnips and carrots) and more, as well as festive food platters, canapes and both apple and pumpkin pies.
Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, The Address Hotel, Dubai. This New Orleans-style restaurant is keen to take the stress out of entertaining, so until December 25 you can order a full seasonal meal from its Takeaway Turkey Feast menu, which features turkey, homemade gravy and a selection of sides – think green beans with almond flakes, roasted Brussels sprouts, sweet potato casserole and bread stuffing – to pick up and eat at home.
The Mattar Farm Kitchen, Dubai. From now until Christmas, Hattem Mattar and his team will be producing game- changing smoked turkeys that you can enjoy at home over the festive period.
Nolu’s, The Galleria Mall, Maryah Island Abu Dhabi. With much of the menu focused on a California inspired “farm to table” approach (with Afghani influence), it only seems right that Nolu’s will be serving their take on the Thanksgiving spread, with a brunch at the Downtown location from 12pm to 4pm on Friday.
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Company profile
Name: Infinite8
Based: Dubai
Launch year: 2017
Number of employees: 90
Sector: Online gaming industry
Funding: $1.2m from a UAE angel investor
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Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
