The Manila Times

Facebook, Twitter not fully compliant – EU

- AFP

BRUSSELS: - sion said Thursday that US social media giants have made an effort to comply with EU consumer protection rules, but that Facebook and Twitter have not made all the required changes.

“While Google’s latest proposals appear to be in line with the requests made by consumer authoritie­s, Facebook and, more partially addressed important issues about their liability and about how users are informed of possible content removal or - mission, the EU’s executive arm, said in a statement.

The three major internet companies had published on Thursday the changes they are making to comply with the demands of European regulators, which must be implemente­d in all languages by spring.

Some of those changes include having the right to withdraw from an online purchase, being able to lodge complaints in where the companies are based, and the platforms being responsibl­e towards EU consumers in

“I am pleased that the enforcemen­t of EU rules to protect consumers by national authoritie­s is bearing fruit, as some companies are now making their platforms is unacceptab­le that this is still not complete and it is taking so much time,” said Vera Jourova, Equality.

The European Union’s demands to the US internet giants were made in November 2016 following numerous complaints by consumers in Europe about being hit with fraud and scams when using their websites.

There were also concerns by consumer protection authoritie­s about requesting the removal of illegal content.

Google, Facebook and Twitter have not set up deadlines to deal with the requests of national authoritie­s.

“We have worked with the - more transparen­t,” a Facebook spokespers­on said in reply to an AFP inquiry.

“We’re grateful to have had the opportunit­y to work with the in place, and will make further updates to our terms later in the year.”

Facebook noted that it has long had tools in place to inform members of the social network about content removal and said that it intends to expand those tools later this year.

Monique Goyens, director gen situation with the social media companies showed that the EU needs to update consumer law to strengthen sanction powers.

“What this shows is that there is a need for real sanction powers when a company does not respect EU law,” she said in a statement.

“The incentive for companies to comply with the law is rather symbolic but a real deterrent, going up to a percentage of the company’s annual worldwide turnover,” she added.

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