Cypriot regulator fines Fidias Panayiotou €6,000 over data protection compliance

The Cypriot Commissioner for Personal Data Protection, Maria Christofidou, imposed an administrative fine of €6,000 on MEP Fidias Panayiotou on September 17, 2026. The fine relates to his role as the data controller for the 'Agora' application, which was found to be in violation of Article 31 of the General Data Protection Regulation regarding the duty to cooperate with supervisory authorities.

The investigation, which began in October 2025, was triggered after the authority discovered the platform was operating without a required Data Protection Impact Assessment. The regulator stated that Panayiotou failed to comply with repeated requests to temporarily suspend the application and did not provide complete or accurate information throughout the audit. The Commissioner deemed the fine a reasonable and proportionate penalty for these obstructions, noting that the developer’s compliance remained fragmentary despite extended deadlines and multiple formal warnings.