Think social media protects your data? Platforms have racked up $26 billion in privacy penalties since 2020

From 2020 to present, social media platforms have been hit with over $26 billion in privacy fines and settlements worldwide. The majority of these penalties, 91%, have been borne by Meta Platforms, encompassing both Facebook and Instagram. The United States led enforcement efforts, dish out $20.9 billion in fines, followed by European regulators at $5.16 billion.

Meta's Facebook and Instagram have been hit particularly hard, with Facebook alone facing $14.3 billion in penalties and Instagram $9.4 billion. TikTok trailed behind in third place, with $1.6 billion in fines. Other platforms facing regulatory actions include LinkedIn ($360 million), YouTube ($222 million), and X (formerly Twitter) totaling $151 million.

In the United States, over 80% of global fines were imposed, with the largest being a $17.1 billion settlement against Facebook and Instagram for failing to adequately protect minors from addictive features.

Across the Atlantic, Europe imposed $5.16 billion in fines under GDPR and national regulations. Ireland led the enforcement with $4.87 billion, largely due to many tech giants having regional headquarters there. France and the UK followed with $245 million and $36 million in fines respectively.

Large penalties for unauthorized international data transfers were also issued, including a $1.39 billion fine against Facebook for transferring EU user data to US servers and a $615 million fine for TikTok transferring European user data to China.