Modeling Meta's response to the Irish DPC's sanctions for GDPR violations
Presented at the 2024 BayesiaLab Conference in Cincinnati on April 11, 2024.
Abstract
In response to a lawsuit brought in 2013 by Maximilian Schrems, on May 12, 2023, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) fined Meta Ireland (formerly Facebook) €1.2 billion for violating the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) through its transfers to the United States of Facebook users' personal data. These transfers were found by EU authorities to violate Chapter V of the GDPR and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights because, upon transfer, the data becomes accessible to the U.S. Government through the FISA 702 PRISM program and its successors. In addition to the fine, the DPC also ordered Meta Ireland to suspend further transfers of data to the United States. In the wake of this DPC decision, Meta Ireland must choose how to respond. Options include complying with the decision (i.e., suspending further data transfers), closing Meta's EU business, or violating the order. It is also possible that the DPC's decision might be overturned on appeal, in which case Meta could continue operating as it does now, transferring customer data to the United States with impunity. Meta's choice must be made in the face of considerable uncertainty and will impact future EU enforcement actions (e.g., more fines), as well as Meta's future EU-related revenues and expenses. This presentation models and optimizes Meta's choice using Bayesian networks and influence diagrams and illustrates how to deal with "functional asymmetry" in designing influence diagrams.
Presentation Video
About the Presenter
Kurt Schulzke, JD, CPA, CFE, is a Professor of Accounting & Law at the University of North Georgia. His teaching, research, and consulting thrive at the intersection of data science, accounting, law, and risk management. He has published in the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, Tennessee Journal of Business Law, Journal of Forensic Accounting Research, and The Value Examiner. MAcc (Brigham Young University), J.D. (Georgia State University), M.S. Applied Statistics (Kennesaw State University).
Kurt Schulzke, JD, CPA, CFE
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