T-Mobile received a huge $60 million fine from the government group CFIUS. CFIUS watches over companies owned by people in other countries. T-Mobile is mostly owned by Deutsche Telekom, a company from Germany.
This is the biggest fine CFIUS has ever given. They fined T-Mobile because some people accessed private data from T-Mobile customers without permission. This happened after T-Mobile bought Sprint in 2020. CFIUS said T-Mobile didn’t do enough to stop this from happening or tell anyone about it.
Some law enforcement records from a few people were shared in a way they shouldn’t have been. But T-Mobile said the private data was only shared with law enforcement and was contained. They also said they found the problem quickly and took care of it.
Even though it was a brief problem, CFIUS wanted to send a message. They want companies to follow the rules when they agree to buy other companies. As the group in charge of national security and foreign-owned companies, CFIUS can fine them for not following their agreements.
It’s unusual for CFIUS to give out such a big fine. But they have been tougher lately, fining 6 companies between $100,000 to $60 million in the last 18 months. T-Mobile will have to pay a record $60 million to learn an important lesson about protecting customer privacy.
