Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has got the European regulatory authorities on heels because of rising concerns on privacy settings of the company. The decision on the data transfer from the U.S. and Europe will be done by the top court in Europe next month. The policymakers in Europe have been targeting the U.S. technology companies for decades in a bid to impose their rules on them.
The regulatory roadblocks that the company is facing in Europe are a serious threat to its dominance and may deter the foresight of becoming the world’s best social networking company. Serafino Abate, Director at the Center on Regulation in Europe, said that Facebook has quickly grown to become a global force but with that a great amount of responsibility has come that the company needs to follow.
Mathias Moulin, deputy director of enforcement at the French data safety watchdog, said that they had privacy issues, with the Facebook data transfer policy. He said that any action of the company is a global issue, and Europe was concerned about the outcome in terms of safety of user data.
Increasing Vigilance
The European regulatory bodies are also becoming vigilant because of the vast penetration of the company in the global markets. Facebook has over 1.4 billion users, and a major population is using its apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram. Among the social media platforms, Facebook is the most prevalent in Europe. According to an eMarketer report, since 2010, more than 260 million people use Facebook in Europe and this market is greater than the U.S. for the company.
Data Handling Major Concern
The issue that the regulatory bodies are concerned is collection and handling of data by the company. The date protection rules of the region are very strict, and Europe has also been creating trouble for others like Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) too. The latest privacy policy of the company has got the France, Germany and Belgium regulators sniffing for some loopholes in the policy.
Any breach in policy will put Facebook in trouble, and the European regulations would then impose fines on the company and get the policy changed to ensure data usage is secure.
Sources: nytimes.com, bdlive.co.za
