Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has once again received a huge €265 million ($276 million) fine from Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, over the data leak that exposed the information of more than 500 million users.

The data leak which took place in April 2021 triggered an investigation from the DPC. The watchdog was looking to determine if the leak, which involved 533 million users, had happened due to Facebook’s non-compliance with Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws.

The probe found that the social-media company had failed to apply strict safeguards required under GDPR’s regulation. The regulator said the social media company infringed two articles of the EU’s data protection laws.

The leaked information, which was posted to an online hacking forum, included the full names, phone numbers, locations, and birthdates of users on the platform from 2018 to 2019, per Insider. Meta said the leak happened through a vulnerability that Facebook had fixed in three years ago and it has the same information that was found in a prior leak reported by Motherboard in January 2021.

In addition to the fine, GDPR “imposed a reprimand and an order” requiring Meta to “bring its processing into compliance by taking a range of specified remedial actions within a particular timeframe”.

The fine has added more to the social media conglomerate’s troubles. The European data regulatory watchdog has thrice caught Meta in its web this year over mismanagement of user data and other antitrust issues.

In March, the DPC fined Meta $18.6 million for bad record-keeping in relation to a series of 2018 data breaches that exposed the information of up to 30 million Facebook users. Meta also received a $402 million fine from the European regulator in September following an investigation into Instagram’s handling of teenagers’ data, per Insider.

Meta has been fined nearly $700 million by the DPC in 2022. In 2021, the company received about $1 billion in fines, including the $267 million fine WhatsApp incurred for violating Europe’s data privacy laws. In a statement obtained by Newstalk reporter Jess Kelly, an unidentified Meta spokesperson was quoted as saying:

“We made changes to our systems during the time in question, including removing the ability to scrape our features in this way using phone numbers. Unauthorized data scraping is unacceptable and against our rules and we will continue working with our peers on this industry challenge. We are reviewing this decision carefully.”

Meta has lost its place in the league of trillion dollar US companies. The social media behemoth saw its market value dropped to below $300 billion, forcing it to lay off 11,000 employees in an aim to cut costs.

If you are interested in cryptocurrencies, then you’ll probably know that Ether, the native token of the Ethereum platform, is the second-largest coin worldwide today, behind Bitcoin, the original and first cryptocurrency. If you are interested in investing in crypto then ETH is certainly a coin worth considering buying. With more functionality behind it compared to other cryptocurrencies, and the token behind the increasingly popular NFTs or non-fungible tokens, Ethereum and ETH are only set to get bigger and bigger as time goes on. The easiest way to invest in Ether is through a cryptocurrency exchange. Keep reading to find out more about how.

Find the Right Exchange for You

With cryptocurrency growing rapidly, there are now several exchange options that you can choose from if you are interested in buying digital coins. Before you invest in ETH, the first step is to research crypto exchanges to find one that meets your needs. There are several exchanges that are ideal for beginners, which you may want to consider if you are completely new to the scene. You can use OKX.com to track ETH prices, learn more about cryptocurrencies, and invest in digital coins.

Sign Up and Be Verified

Any reputable cryptocurrency exchange will have you go through Know Your Customer (KYC) anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering checks before you can become a member and start investing in cryptocurrencies. This is usually a fairly quick process in which you will need to upload a copy of your identification to be verified. Depending on the exchange you use, it could be done instantly or take a couple of days.

Deposit Fiat Currency

Before you can get started with purchasing ETH and other cryptocurrencies, you will usually be required to deposit a fiat currency into the exchange. A fiat currency refers to a regular currency that is kept in the back and regulated by the government, such as dollars and pounds. You will usually be able to do this using a payment method that you are familiar with, such as a debit or credit card, or a bank transfer payment.

Set Up a Wallet

It’s a good idea to set up a separate crypto wallet before you start purchasing digital coins. You can either set up a software or a hardware wallet. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, and with several options available some are more beginner-friendly than others, so it’s worth taking some time to research what’s out there and find the right option for you.

Purchase ETH

Once you’ve done all of the above, it’s time to buy ETH for the first time. To do this, all you need to do is select it in your chosen cryptocurrency exchange, choose how much you would like to buy and follow the process. Once you have purchased the coins, you will either be able to keep them stored on your chosen exchange or move them to your software or hardware wallet for safer storage.

ETH is an excellent investment if you are looking to purchase cryptocurrency for the first time. Using a good crypto exchange is usually the easiest and most secure way to make the investment.