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SQ Magazine » The Threat Index » Privacy Fines Tracker

Privacy Fines Tracker

Major privacy penalties as the authorities themselves published them: the amount in the decision's own currency, the law it enforced, and whether it survived appeal. A fine reported only by the fined company never gets a row.

21 records · updated through 7 Sep 2026 · next review by 7 Oct 2026

Sofia Ramirez
Maintained By
Sofia Ramirez
Sofia Ramirez
Senior Tech Writer • 583 Articles
Sofia Ramirez is a technology and cybersecurity writer at SQ Magazine. With a keen eye on emerging threats and innovations, she helps reader...
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Latest change Four Irish DPC penalties added: Instagram 405m, Meta behavioural advertising 390m, WhatsApp 225m, TikTok children 345m (31 Jul 2026) All changes

All records

21 penalties, newest decision first. Filter or search below.

What is in scope Penalties where the issuing authority itself published the decision. Penalties disclosed only by the fined company are outside this rule — including the Luxembourg CNPD penalty against Amazon, which the authority never published and which the Luxembourg Administrative Court annulled in March 2026.

21 penalties issued by 8 authorities. Data Protection Commission (Ireland) accounts for 9 of them.

Penalties as each data-protection authority published them, in the currency the decision states: a £12.7m ICO penalty never becomes dollars. Appeal status is recorded where a court record confirms it and left blank otherwise, rather than assumed final. Informational only, not legal advice.
Organization Authority Decided Amount (as stated) Legal basis Status Source Record detail
Google (LLC and Ireland) CNIL (France) 1 Sep 2025 €325 million French DPA Act Art. 82; CPCE Art. L.34-5 Final CNIL decision ↗
Violation
Ads inserted in Gmail Promotions/Social tabs and cookies placed at account creation without valid consent
Primary source
CNIL decision ↗
Last confirmed
7 Sep 2026
Recent change
€200m (Google LLC) + €125m (Google Ireland); compliance ordered within six months
23andMe Information Commissioner's Office (UK) 17 Jun 2025 £2.31 million UK GDPR (security of processing) Final ICO news release ↗
Violation
Credential-stuffing attack exposed personal information of 155,592 UK residents, including genetic data
Primary source
ICO news release ↗
Last confirmed
7 Sep 2026
Recent change
Fine issued June 17, 2025 after joint investigation with Canada's OPC
TikTok Technology Limited Data Protection Commission (Ireland) 30 Apr 2025 €530 million GDPR Arts. 46(1), 13(1)(f) Under appeal Data Protection Commission ↗
Violation
Transfers of EEA user data to China and transparency failures; compliance ordered within 6 months
Primary source
Data Protection Commission ↗
Last confirmed
7 Sep 2026
Recent change
Final decision adopted April 30, 2025; TikTok appealed
Meta Platforms Ireland (token breach) Data Protection Commission (Ireland) 17 Dec 2024 €251 million GDPR Art. 33(3), 33(5), 25(1) and 25(2) Data Protection Commission ↗
Violation
A flaw in Facebook's 'View As' feature combined with the video uploader issued fully permissioned user tokens, exposing profile information for roughly 29 mill…
Primary source
Data Protection Commission ↗
Last confirmed
7 Sep 2026
Recent change
Added 3 Aug 2026. Verified against the DPC's own press release: decision 17 Dec 2024, fines totalling €251m split €8m (Art. 33(3)), €3m (Art. 33(5)), €130m (Art. 25(1)) and €110m (Art. 25(2)). Appeal…
LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company Data Protection Commission (Ireland) 22 Oct 2024 €310 million GDPR Art. 6(1)(a), 6(1)(b), 6(1)(f), 5(1)(a), 13(1)(c) and 14(1)(c) Data Protection Commission ↗
Violation
Behavioural analysis and targeted advertising of LinkedIn members using first-party and partner-supplied data, without a valid lawful basis and without telling…
Primary source
Data Protection Commission ↗
Last confirmed
7 Sep 2026
Recent change
Added 3 Aug 2026. Verified against the DPC's own press release: decision notified to LinkedIn 22 Oct 2024, announced 24 Oct, fines totalling €310m split €105m/€110m/€95m across the Article 6 and Arti…
Uber Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (Netherlands) 26 Aug 2024 €290 million — Under appeal Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens ↗
Violation
European drivers' data transferred to US servers for over two years without transfer tools, from August 2021
Primary source
Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens ↗
Last confirmed
7 Sep 2026
Recent change
Violation window narrowed to what the authority states; the article citation was removed because the decision notice does not name one
TikTok Technology Limited (children’s data) Data Protection Commission (Ireland) 1 Sep 2023 €345 million GDPR Arts. 5(1)(a), 5(1)(c), 5(1)(f), 24(1), 25(1), 25(2), 12(1), 13(1)(e) Data Protection Commission ↗
Violation
Public-by-default settings for child users, Family Pairing settings, age verification at registration, and transparency toward child users
Primary source
Data Protection Commission ↗
Last confirmed
7 Sep 2026
Recent change
Added 31 Jul 2026; appeal status not yet verified against a court record
TikTok (UK) Information Commissioner's Office (UK) 15 May 2023 £12.7 million UK GDPR Under appeal ICO enforcement record ↗
Violation
Unlawful use of children's personal data, including under-13 users without parental consent
Primary source
ICO enforcement record ↗
Last confirmed
7 Sep 2026
Recent change
Decision date corrected to 15 May 2023 to match the ICO enforcement record; ICO (July 2025) confirms TikTok has appealed
Meta Platforms Ireland (Facebook) Data Protection Commission (Ireland) 12 May 2023 €1.2 billion GDPR Art. 46(1) Under appeal Data Protection Commission ↗
Violation
Continued EU/EEA-to-US Facebook data transfers after the CJEU's Schrems II judgment
Primary source
Data Protection Commission ↗
Last confirmed
7 Sep 2026
Recent change
Fine imposed with order to suspend future transfers; Meta appealed
Meta Platforms Ireland (behavioural advertising) Data Protection Commission (Ireland) 4 Jan 2023 €210 million (Facebook) + €180 million (Instagram) GDPR (contract as legal basis) Data Protection Commission ↗
Violation
Relied on the contract legal basis to deliver behavioural advertising on Facebook (€210m) and Instagram (€180m)
Primary source
Data Protection Commission ↗
Last confirmed
7 Sep 2026
Recent change
Corrected: the DPC announced two fines in this decision, €210M for Facebook and €180M for Instagram. The previous €390 million was our sum, which the authority never stated.
Epic Games Federal Trade Commission (US) 19 Dec 2022 $520 million (two orders: $275M penalty, $245M refunds) COPPA and FTC Act Section 5 Final Federal Trade Commission ↗
Violation
Collected personal information from under-13 Fortnite players without parental consent and enabled live voice and text chat for children by default (COPPA, $27…
Primary source
Federal Trade Commission ↗
Last confirmed
7 Sep 2026
Recent change
Added 3 Aug 2026 (completeness sweep). Two stipulated federal orders announced together; recorded as one entry with the split stated because the FTC announced them as a single $520M action. Status fi…
Meta Platforms Ireland (data scraping) Data Protection Commission (Ireland) 25 Nov 2022 €265 million GDPR Art. 25(1) and 25(2) Data Protection Commission ↗
Violation
Facebook Search, Facebook Messenger Contact Importer and Instagram Contact Importer allowed a collated dataset of Facebook personal data to be scraped and late…
Primary source
Data Protection Commission ↗
Last confirmed
7 Sep 2026
Recent change
Added 3 Aug 2026. Verified against the DPC's own press release: decision adopted 25 Nov 2022, announced 28 Nov, fines totalling €265m for infringements of Art. 25(1) and 25(2). Appeal status not veri…
Google (location tracking, multistate) 40 US state attorneys general (multistate coalition) 14 Nov 2022 $391.5 million State consumer-protection statutes Final Colorado Attorney General — settlement announcement ↗
Violation
Between 2014 and 2020 Google misled users into believing that turning Location History off disabled location tracking, while other settings continued recording…
Primary source
Colorado Attorney General — settlement announcement ↗
Last confirmed
7 Sep 2026
Recent change
Added 3 Aug 2026 (completeness sweep, second pass). A coalition action: recorded once at the coalition total rather than forty times at state shares. The New Jersey coalition-level release is bot-wal…
Meta Platforms Ireland (Instagram) Data Protection Commission (Ireland) 15 Sep 2022 €405 million GDPR Art. 6(1) and children's data provisions Data Protection Commission ↗
Violation
Public disclosure of children's email addresses and phone numbers via business accounts, and a public-by-default setting on children's personal accounts
Primary source
Data Protection Commission ↗
Last confirmed
7 Sep 2026
Recent change
Added 31 Jul 2026; appeal status not yet verified against a court record
Didi Global Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) 21 Jul 2022 Â¥8.026 billion Cybersecurity Law, Data Security Law and Personal Information Protection Law (C… Cyberspace Administration of China ↗
Violation
Sixteen categories of illegal collection and processing of user personal information over seven years — including facial recognition data, precise location, an…
Primary source
Cyberspace Administration of China ↗
Last confirmed
7 Sep 2026
Recent change
Added 3 Aug 2026 (completeness sweep). The largest privacy penalty issued outside the US and EU, and third-largest anywhere after the FTC's $5B and the DPC's €1.2B. Verified against the CAC's own ann…
Twitter, Inc. Federal Trade Commission (US) 25 May 2022 $150 million FTC Act Section 5; violation of the 2011 FTC consent order Final Federal Trade Commission ↗
Violation
Phone numbers and email addresses collected for two-factor authentication and account security were also used for targeted advertising, affecting more than 140…
Primary source
Federal Trade Commission ↗
Last confirmed
7 Sep 2026
Recent change
Added 3 Aug 2026 (completeness sweep). Recorded under the corporate name at the time of the decision. Status final: stipulated order.
Google (cookies, 2021) CNIL (France) 31 Dec 2021 €150 million Article 82, French Data Protection Act (ePrivacy cookies) CNIL ↗
Violation
google.fr and youtube.com offered a one-click accept for cookies but no equivalent one-click refuse, making refusal materially harder than consent. €90M agains…
Primary source
CNIL ↗
Last confirmed
7 Sep 2026
Recent change
Added 3 Aug 2026 (completeness sweep). A separate decision from the €325M CNIL penalty already recorded — deliberation of 31 December 2021, announced 6 January 2022, under the ePrivacy cookies regime…
WhatsApp Ireland Data Protection Commission (Ireland) 2 Sep 2021 €225 million GDPR transparency obligations Data Protection Commission ↗
Violation
Failed to provide required privacy information to users and to non-users, and to make it available in an easily accessible form
Primary source
Data Protection Commission ↗
Last confirmed
7 Sep 2026
Recent change
Added 31 Jul 2026; fine set after an EDPB binding decision required the DPC to increase it. Appeal status not yet verified against a court record
British Airways Information Commissioner's Office (UK) 16 Oct 2020 £20 million GDPR (security of processing) Final ICO penalty notice ↗
Violation
2018 breach exposed personal and payment data of more than 400,000 customers
Primary source
ICO penalty notice ↗
Last confirmed
7 Sep 2026
Recent change
Penalty issued October 16, 2020, reduced from the £183.39m notice of intent
Facebook, Inc. (FTC) Federal Trade Commission (US) 24 Jul 2019 $5 billion FTC Act; 2012 FTC consent order Final FTC press release ↗
Violation
Violated 2012 FTC order by deceiving users about their ability to control the privacy of their personal information
Primary source
FTC press release ↗
Last confirmed
7 Sep 2026
Recent change
Stipulated final order filed in D.D.C. with 20-year privacy program requirements
Equifax Federal Trade Commission (US), with CFPB and 50 states 22 Jul 2019 $575 million (up to $700 million) FTC Act Section 5 and the GLBA Safeguards Rule Final Federal Trade Commission ↗
Violation
The 2017 breach exposed personal data of approximately 147 million people — including Social Security numbers — after Equifax failed to patch a known vulnerabi…
Primary source
Federal Trade Commission ↗
Last confirmed
7 Sep 2026
Recent change
Added 3 Aug 2026 (completeness sweep). A settlement rather than a contested penalty, recorded because the issuing authorities published the decision and the amount — the scope test. Status final: cou…

No records match the current filters.

Verification ledger

3 most recent of 3 logged updates
  • Four Irish DPC penalties added: Instagram 405m, Meta behavioural advertising 390m, WhatsApp 225m, TikTok children 345m 31 Jul 2026
  • TikTok UK decision date corrected to 15 May 2023 per the ICO enforcement record; Uber violation window narrowed to the authority statement 31 Jul 2026
  • Tracker launched with 8 penalties verified from authority decisions 31 Jul 2026

How this tracker is maintained

Every penalty is one the issuing authority published itself.

  1. 01

    Sourced

    Penalties enter when the authority publishes its own decision or announcement. A penalty disclosed only by the fined company does not qualify, because there is no decision to cite and no way to verify the amount or the finding.

  2. 02

    Dated

    Each row carries the date the authority decided, not the date it was reported. Where an authority notifies a company before announcing publicly, the decision date is the one recorded.

  3. 03

    Re-checked

    Decisions are re-checked every 30 days for appeals, reductions and annulments, which are common at this scale and frequently change the final figure years after the headline.

Why does one regulator issue most of these?
Under the GDPR one-stop-shop a company answers to the authority where its EU establishment sits, and most of the largest platforms are established in the same jurisdiction. The concentration is a feature of how the regulation is enforced, not of how this table was built.
Was the fine actually paid?
Often not, or not in full. Penalties at this scale are routinely appealed, and some are reduced or annulled entirely on procedural grounds. The amount here is the decision as issued; the status field records what we have been able to verify since.
Why is a well-known fine missing?
Almost always because the issuing authority published no decision to cite, or because the penalty was annulled. Both are recorded in the scope note rather than left for a reader to wonder about.

This is informational content and does not constitute legal advice. Penalties are frequently appealed, reduced, or annulled after the decision date, and an amount here reflects the decision as issued rather than what was ultimately paid. Confirm current status with the issuing authority or the court record before relying on a figure.

Quoting a figure with a link to this page needs no permission. Cite it as you would any source. Reuse of the compiled dataset itself is licensed under CC BY 4.0: credit SQ Magazine and link back.

Sources

  • Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens
  • CNIL
  • CNIL decision
  • Colorado Attorney General — settlement announcement
  • Cyberspace Administration of China
  • Data Protection Commission
  • FTC press release
  • Federal Trade Commission
  • ICO enforcement record
  • ICO news release
  • ICO penalty notice

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