Meta has been fined 1.2 billion euros, or nearly 1.3 billion dollars, by European Union regulators over its handling of personal data.

Ireland's Data Protection Commission on Monday announced the results of a probe into the local arm of Facebook's owner over its practice of transferring user data from the bloc to the United States. The Irish watchdog is the lead EU regulator for many global tech firms, since their headquarters are located in Ireland.

The commission concluded that the steps taken by Meta "did not address the risks to the fundamental rights and freedoms of data subjects."

The penalty is the largest imposed under the bloc's General Data Protection Regulation, which was introduced in 2018.

Meta has also been given five months to stop transferring personal data to the US.

Meta said in a statement that it will appeal the decision. It said, "the decision is flawed, unjustified and sets a dangerous precedent for the countless other companies transferring data between the EU and US."