LONDON (AP) — Meta was punished Friday with a fine worth more than $100 million from the social media giant's European Union privacy regulator over a security lapse involving passwords for Facebook users.
The Irish Data Protection Commission said it slapped the U.S. tech company with the 91 million euro ($101.6 million) penalty following an investigation.
The watchdog started investigating in 2019 after it was notified by Meta that some passwords had been inadvertently stored internally in plain text, which means they weren't encrypted and it was possible for employees to search for them.
Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said it's “widely accepted” that user passwords should not be stored in plain text, "considering the risks of abuse.”
Meta said a security review found that a “subset” of Facebook users' passwords were “temporarily logged in a readable format.”
“We took immediate action to fix this error, and there is no evidence that these passwords were abused or accessed improperly,” the company said in a statement. "We proactively flagged this issue to our lead regulator, the Irish Data Protection Commission, and have engaged constructively with them throughout this inquiry.”
It's the latest in a series of hefty fines for Meta and its social media platforms from the Dublin-based watchdog, which is the company's lead regulator under the 27-nation EU's stringent data privacy rulebook. They include a 405 million euro fine for Instagram over mishandling teen data, a 5.5 million euro penalty involving WhatsApp and a 1.2 billion euro fine for Meta over transatlantic data transfers.
Meta hit with $102 million privacy fine from European Union over 2019 password security lapse
FILE - In this May 16, 2012, file photo, the Facebook logo is displayed on a mobile device in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
Meta hit with $102 million privacy fine from European Union over 2019 password security lapse
The Republicans’ defeat in the U.S. midterm elections was watched closely in Russia, where some observers are predicting it could herald more support for Ukraine when the Democrats take over Congress in January.
But if the Kremlin is hearing the ticking of a clock on its nearly 5-year-old full-scale invasion of its neighbor, it seemingly remains unperturbed.
Asked if the election's outcome could stymie U.S. attempts to help negotiate a settlement between Moscow and Kyiv, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov voiced hope that U.S. President Donald Trump will continue to pursue his peace efforts.
“There is groundwork already in place, and another round of trilateral negotiations is set to take place very soon,” Peskov said of talks planned for Tuesday and Wednesday involving Russian, Ukrainian and U.S. representatives in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
He also praised the “successful humanitarian peace-building efforts” by first lady Melania Trump, adding that “we hope that all of this will continue.” Last week’s limited ceasefire around the Russia-occupied city of Oleshky, brokered with her help, allowed for the delivery of humanitarian aid and the evacuation of some residents.
Peskov shrugged off a question from reporters on whether the new Congress would challenge Trump’s stance on Russia and Ukraine. He called it an “internal matter” for the U.S.
Last month, he struck a diesel fuel import deal with Russia in a stunning reversal of years of U.S. pressure on the Kremlin, to the dismay of Ukraine and its European allies. He also claimed that Kyiv’s attacks on Russian oil refineries caused a spike in diesel prices in the U.S. He urged Kyiv to halt the strikes, even though rising global energy prices were largely driven by the Iran war.
Trump also issued an executive order to put on hold sweeping new sanctions that clamped down on the Russian economy, telling Congress the pause was in the national interest. Lawmakers from both parties blasted Trump's move as benefiting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
At the same time, Ukraine reported a throttling of Starshield, the military-grade version of the Starlink satellite internet service owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Trump denied being behind the brief slowing of Starshield, but the move to limit the system that serves as the backbone of Ukraine’s drone operations and battlefield communications was widely seen as part of Washington’s efforts to pressure Kyiv.
The diesel deal appeared to falter this week after U.S. federal and state officials warned that handling any shipments could bring legal consequences, and two U.S.-bound tankers changed course. The Kremlin sought to play down the development, saying deliveries will continue.
Kyiv desperately needs to replenish its supplies of U.S.-made Patriot interceptors to fend off Russia’s ballistic missile attacks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made repeated requests for Washington to speed up delivery of the defensive systems, but U.S. stockpiles have been exhausted by the Iran war, and the U.S. has prioritized replenishing its own arsenals.
On Oct. 30, the Trump administration said it has approved a proposed $2.1 billion sale of Patriot interceptors for Ukraine after Kyiv had accused the Pentagon of delaying delivery.
Trump also appeared to echo the Kremlin’s view that Zelenskyy was an obstacle to peace while saying Putin was more open to a deal.
Trump on Thursday conferred with Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who attended a White House ceremony with the first lady recognizing last week’s humanitarian truce. The president didn’t meet any of the Ukrainian officials also at the event but hinted that some kind of grand deal about European security was in the works.
Many in Russia argue that the Democrats' victory could put congressional pressure on Trump to tread more carefully and toughen his stand on Russia.
Dmitry Medvedev, who served as Russian president in 2008-12, predicted that Trump would be less inclined to press Ukraine when a new Congress is seated.
"He doesn’t need an extra confrontation with Democrats,” said Medvedev, who now serves as deputy head of Russia’s Security Council.
There has been strong bipartisan support for Ukraine, raising the prospect of veto-proof passage of more aid to Kyiv or tough new sanctions on Moscow.
On Wednesday, Zelenskyy told German broadcaster ZDF that while there has been backing for Kyiv from both parties, the Democrats “speak very clearly about supporting Ukraine."
In other remarks Thursday, the Ukrainian leader also noted the midterm elections could have a positive effect on U.S. assistance, including speedier delivery of the Patriot interceptors. “I believe our chances of getting additional assistance from the United States may now grow,” he said.
Abbas Gallyamov, a former Putin speechwriter-turned-political analyst who lives abroad, argued that his old boss had missed a chance of striking a deal on Ukraine before the Democrats won and now could face a less cooperative Washington.
“Putin’s prospects have significantly worsened,” Gallyamov wrote in a commentary. “He thought that the time was on his side and wasn’t in a hurry to use the window of opportunity that had opened after Trump’s victory, and now this window is starting to close.”
Some policy experts, however, cautioned against expectations of a dramatic shift.
The Democrats could put more funding for Ukraine on the agenda and increase pressure on Trump over the diesel deal or Russia sanctions waivers, but hard limits on the president’s power are unlikely, said Jorn Fleck, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center.
“Even with a strong majority in both chambers of Congress, Democrats will struggle to impose meaningful limits on Trump’s conduct of foreign policy, given his constitutional powers and willingness to push the envelope,” Fleck said in a commentary. “Unshackled from having to face voters at the ballot box again, Trump may shift into deal-making overdrive to cement his legacy.”
Konstantin Kosachev, a deputy speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament, argued that Trump’s executive powers in the foreign policy sphere would allow him to pursue his course regardless of congressional opposition.
He said if authorities in Kyiv believed that the Republicans’ defeat would make the Trump administration more receptive to Ukraine’s requests, they could be mistaken.
“They will not find a more pliable or constrained Trump," Kosachev said. “Rather, they will face a more resolute one, who is no longer looking over his shoulder at upcoming elections.”
For all the importance of Congress, "the U.S. president’s role in foreign policy remains paramount — a fact Trump understands better than anyone else,” he said.
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna struck a similar tone in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press, saying "the president is President Trump,” and he has the ability to dictate foreign and security policy. “Unpredictability” should be expected, he added.
Kosachev said that by pinning their hopes on a victory by the Democrats, Kyiv and its allies in London, Brussels and other capitals in Europe have sided with Trump's domestic political adversaries.
"Consequently, they are all but guaranteed two years of a hard-line Trump,” he said.
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Emma Burrows in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a video conference meeting with government members at the Kremlin in Moscow, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026. (Aleksey Babushkin/Pool Photo via AP)
First lady Melania Trump, from right, hands letters written for the presidents of Ukraine and Russia to Davyd Arakhamia, lawmaker with President Zelenskyy's Servant of the People's party and Russian Presidential Envoy Kirill Dmitriev, during a meeting with the first lady and Russian and Ukrainian representatives in the Grand Foyer of the White House, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, right, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attend a press conference in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Russian President Vladimir Putin lights a candle as he visits the Orthodox Russia exhibition in Moscow during National Unity Day celebrations, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, interacts with people at the monument to merchant Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, leaders of the struggle against foreign invaders in 1612, in Red Square in Moscow, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, during National Unity Day celebrations. (Yuri Kochetkov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
