Ireland's Data Protection Commission has fined Meta (Facebook as was) €17 million (US$18.7 million) for what it says was a series of 12 data breach notifications it received between June and December 2018. The Commission found that Meta had infringed two specific parts of GDPR privacy law, failing to "have in place appropriate technical and organisational measures which would enable it to readily demonstrate the security measures that it implemented in practice to protect EU users' data." It's not the first time that Meta has fallen foul of the Commission – last year it got whacked with a €225 million ($266 million) fine for compliance failings at its WhatsApp messaging service. (See Eurobites: Facebook Backs Out of Ireland as GDPR Jeopardy Looms.) Figure 1: (Source: Dima Solomin on Unsplash)

Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, has launched a consultation on its proposed new space spectrum strategy. Ofcom originally set out such a strategy in January 2017 but, recognizing that the sector has undergone significant change and rapid expansion at the hands of Elon Musk and others, its new proposals are intended, among other things, to ensure that there is appropriate spectrum available for systems that support the safe use of space, such as radar systems that track the ever-increasing number of object hurtling around in space.

In other space-related matters, a Ukrainian cybersecurity official says that the hack of Viasat's Ka-Sat network last month sparked a massive communications outage just as Russian tanks began to trundle ominously into Ukraine. As Reuters reports, the outage was triggered by a cyberattack that wiped out tens of thousands of satellite modems across Europe.

In Sweden, Tele2 and NENT have agreed a distribution deal under the terms of which Tele2's pay-TV customers will get access to a selection of Viaplay channels and streaming services as part of their subscription. Later this year the deal will be expanded and Viaplay will be directly available through the Tele2 Play platform.

The European Commission has approved Amazon's proposed acquisition of MGM, concluding that the transaction raises "no competition concerns in the European Economic Area." In the summary of its findings, the Commission said that "MGM's content cannot be considered as must-have." One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest? Midnight Cowboy? Hot Tub Time Machine? Pah! Who needs 'em?

Proximus is teaming up with Telenet and a number of other companies to help reduce transport emissions by combining their deliveries of orders to retail outlets in Antwerp. Proximus claims that this "smart bundling" of goods on the outskirts of the city will result in 90% fewer emissions.

Nokia's NDM software has been chosen by US blockchain-based healthcare data company Equideum Health to help it launch new applications on the market more quickly. NDM, launched in 2021, facilitates the secure sharing of data and AI models.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading