GDPR violations are growing more expensive. The total fine amounts issued by European regulators for violations of the landmark data privacy law tripled in 2021 over the prior year, according to two recent quantitative reviews of GDPR enforcement. With input from the reports’ authors at DLA Piper and Cooley, this article discusses the newest statistics about Europe’s most active and punitive data protection authorities, the fines and sanctions they impose and the most common GDPR violations. It also presents interpretations of the trends and implications for compliance. See our two-part series on lessons from the WhatsApp decision on GDPR transparency requirements: “Enforcement Takeaways” (Oct. 20, 2021) and “Compliance Foundations” (Oct. 27, 2021).