GDPR fines hit €1.5 billion in first half of 2023

Basic Information Safety Regulation (GDPR) established by the European Union is a formidable authorized framework designed to control the processing and switch of private knowledge throughout member states.

Based on the information analyzed by the Atlas VPN workforce, corporations needed to pay over €1.5 billion in GDPR fines by the primary half of 2023. On Could twenty fifth, GDPR celebrated its fifth anniversary. All through this time, companies acquired 1679 fines combining to a sum of almost €4 billion.

January and Could had been notably noteworthy, with almost €400 million and €1.2 billion in fines, respectively. Curiously, each months noticed fines issued towards Meta Platforms which management Fb, Instagram, WhatsApp, and different apps.

Though March solely noticed €1.5 million in fines, it was the month when companies acquired essentially the most penalties for knowledge violations, with a complete of 46 penalties issued.

February was the month with the least quantity of fines issued in H1 2023, with solely 34 fines accounting for €2.6 million in penalties. General, companies acquired 237 fines all through the primary half of 2023.

​​Cybersecurity author at Atlas VPN, Vilius Kardelis, shares his ideas on GDPR enforcement: “The GDPR fines are considerably impacting how companies function and deal with knowledge. Firms should prioritize knowledge privateness and safety to keep away from potential fines and reputational harm. As we transfer ahead, corporations should proceed investing of their knowledge safety methods and staying knowledgeable about any updates or adjustments to the GDPR.”
Nations with most GDPR violations

As we delve into the subject of nations with essentially the most GDPR violations, it’s essential to notice that no nation is resistant to knowledge privateness points. Nonetheless, some nations have had extra violations than others.

Because the begin of GDPR, Spain has amassed 689 fines leading to over €60 million in penalties. Whereas the common of every fantastic is about €88K, Spanish companies acquired greater than 2 instances the quantity of fines than every other nation.

Italy’s knowledge safety authorities have issued 284 fines, totaling €133 million in penalties. The common fantastic right here is about €468K. Germany has acquired the third-highest variety of violations, totaling 160. These fines have resulted in penalties of €55 million.

Romania is the final nation whose authorities have issued over 100 fines within the 5 years of GDPR’s existence. As well as, Romania has a really low common penalty of solely €5390. Greece stands out from the remainder of the nations with a excessive common per fantastic of €525K.