As Ron Burgundy would say, “that escalated quickly”! GDPR fines almost doubled in the first half of 2022, compared to the first half of 2021.
According to an analysis conducted by AtlasVPN based on data from the GDPR Enforcement tracker, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) fines hit a total of €97.29 million in the first half of 2022, an increase of 92% over H1 2021, when the fines were €50.6 million. This despite the fact that legal cases slightly decreased from 215 in 2021 to 205 in 2022.
In other words, even though the number of GDPR violations slightly decreased in 2022, the severity of those violations was considerably worse, leading to the result that GDPR fines almost doubled.
The most noticeable difference between 2021 and 2022 can be seen in February, where the total amount penalized differs by nearly €28 million. If it hadn’t been for the June comparison (where the 2021 fines exceeded 2022 by more than €6 million), 2022 H1 GDPR fines would have been well over double those of 2021 H1.
On the other hand, there is a distinctive trend throughout both years – around 70% of fines happen throughout the first quarter.
So, what do you think? Are you surprised that GDPR fines almost doubled in the first half of 2022? Or are you surprised that they aren’t even larger? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.
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