Last Monday, Ireland’s data protection authority assumed control of policing how Twitter collects and uses the data of its roughly 240 million The battle to regulate Facebook in Europe is only a sign of things to come. “Of course Facebook would go to a country with the lowest levels of data protection,” said Peter Schaar, a former federal data protection commissioner in Germany.
That is particularly true for Ireland, which has attracted companies like Apple, Dropbox and LinkedIn through one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the region. But others, likeīritain, are perceived to have less stringent polices that are welcomed by tech companies. Some countries, particularly France and Germany, have taken tough lines on protecting individuals’ online data, fining companies like Google after the search giant breached local privacy rules. This question are expected by the end of the year, though domestic privacy regulators are eager to hold on to the power to police activities in their own countries. The debate is whether individuals’ privacy should be protected primarily by their domestic regulators or by the watchdog in the country where a company has its European headquarters. The standoff over how Europe’s complex privacy rules should be interpreted highlights the growing headache for American tech companies operating across the 28-member bloc. Ireland’s data protection authority says it has been in contact with its European counterparts about their investigations. “It doesn’t make sense thatĢ8 regulators should make different interpretations of the same law.” “The primary regulation should come from where a company’s headquarters is located,” said Richard Allan, who runs Facebook’s policy team in Europe. The company contends that Europe’s other regulators do not have the jurisdiction to demand changes to how it Non-American activities are regulated from Dublin, the site of its international headquarters. Facebook says it has been in contact with Ireland’s privacy regulator about the policy, because the company’s
The social network, however, says it complies with Europe’s strict data protection rules.
“This is a global issue with a global company.” “This is just the beginning of our investigation,” said Mathias Moulin, deputy director of enforcement at the French data protection regulator, who is overseeing the review of the company’s activities. Investigations, which could lead either to fines or to demands that Facebook alter its use of online information They are expected to meet this month to discuss the continuing The watchdogs also questioned how Facebook collected information on people who visited websites other than Facebook that had embedded “like” buttons connected to the social network.Īt least five European regulators - France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium - are investigating Facebook’s new privacy settings. Which were updated this year and simplified the often hard-to-understand rules into concise and comprehensible language.įor some of Europe’s regulators, which oversee stricter data protection rules than those in the United States, the changes raised concerns that the social network did not give people enough say over how their The investigations are concerned with changes in Facebook’s privacy settings, That question lies at the heart of a growing fight here after many of Europe’s privacy watchdogs opened investigations into how the social network obtains and uses individuals’ online data. LONDON - Who has the right to regulate Facebook? Credit Lluis Gene/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images At least five European regulators are investigating Facebook’s new privacy settings. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief, in Barcelona in March.
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