Legal

Privacy activist seeks to join Meta’s case against Irish Data Protection Commissioner

Max Schrems says a complaint made by him in 2013 is the genesis of an inquiry resulting in Facebook being fined

Max Schrems: James Doherty, SC, for the Austrian lawyer, told the court that his client wished to be joined as a party to the proceedings because he had a real and legitimate interest in their outcome. Picture: Getty

Privacy campaigner Max Schrems is seeking to be joined to Meta’s case against the Data Protection Commissioner over its record fine of €1.2 billion, the High Court has heard.

Counsel for Schrems said this was because a complaint he made in 2013 was the genesis of an inquiry which later resulted in the imposition of the fine and corrective orders on Facebook.

The case relates to Meta’s appeal over the DPC’s decision, published last month, to fine Facebook a record €1.2 billion and to halt data transfers from the European Union to the US within five months.