Commissioner for Data Protection Helen Dixon has rejected criticism of her office after it handed out administrative fines in excess of €1bn last year.
Dixon said the Data Protection Commission, which effectively acts as the European regulator for big tech due to the concentration of tech giants based in Ireland, had demonstrated that "it does not shy away from enforcing the law and applying sanctions where warranted".
The DPC has been tagged by privacy advocates as a soft touch on tech multinationals such as Google and Facebook, and a number of provisional fines handed down by the organisation have been bolstered following referrals to EU supervisory bodies.
DPC's annual report shows fines of over €1bn, multiple reprimands and compliance orders imposed following the conclusion of 17 large-scale inquiries, with the decisions for a further five inquiries currently being analysed at EU level.
The most notable fines related to Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp parent Meta Platforms, including a €390m sanction over its misuse of its terms of service for purposes of personalised advertising to users.
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DPC said it had progressed another nine large-scale inquiries to the point where submissions on a draft decision, statement of issues or inquiry report were invited from the relevant parties.
The organisation processed 9,370 new cases, including 6,660 queries and 2,710 complaints, from individuals and concluded 10,008 cases (6,875 queries and 3,133 complaints), including 1,920 complaints received prior to 2022, last year.
The DPC received 125 valid cross-border complaints as lead supervisory authority and concluded 246 cross-border complaints in 2022. In all, the body received 5,828 valid breach notifications.
“2022 was a year that saw significant outputs from the DPC in its efforts to drive GDPR compliance and protect the rights of those in Ireland and across the EU," Dixon said.
"While the DPC encourages and guides organisations in achieving highest standards of protection in their processing of personal data, the DPC has also demonstrated it does not shy away from enforcing the law and applying sanctions where warranted.
"Two-thirds of the fines issued across Europe last year, including the EU, EEA and UK, were issued by the DPC on foot of detailed and comprehensive investigations, a fact that underlines both the outsized role, and exceptional performance, of the organisation in effectively holding those guilty of non-compliance to account.”
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