Facebook to put 1.5b users out of reach of new EU privacy law
Change comes as online social network is under scrutiny by regulators and lawmakers around the world
If a new European law restricting what companies can do with people’s online data went into effect tomorrow, almost 1.9 billion Facebook users around the world would be protected by it. The online social network is making changes that ensure the number will be much smaller.
Facebook members outside the United States and Canada, whether they know it or not, are currently governed by terms of service agreed with the company’s international headquarters in Ireland. Next month, Facebook is planning to make that the case for only European users, meaning 1.5 billion members in Africa, Asia, Australia and Latin America will not fall under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which takes effect on May 25.
The previously unreported move, which Facebook confirmed on Tuesday, shows the world’s largest online social network is keen to reduce its exposure to GDPR, which allows European regulators to fine companies for collecting or using personal data without users’ consent. That removes a huge potential liability for Facebook, as the new EU law allows for fines of up to 4 per cent of global annual revenue for infractions, which in Facebook’s case could mean billions of dollars. In a statement given to Reuters, Facebook played down the importance of the terms of service change, saying it plans to make the privacy controls and settings that Europe will get under GDPR available to the rest of the world.
“We apply the same privacy protections everywhere, regardless of whether your agreement is with Facebook Inc or Facebook Ireland,” the company said.
Earlier this month, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in an interview that his company would apply the EU law globally “in spirit,” but stopped short of committing to it as the standard for the social network across the world.
The change means the 1.5 billion affected users will not be able to file complaints with Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner or in Irish courts. They will be governed by more lenient US privacy laws, said Michael Veale, a technology policy researcher at University College London.
Facebook is building a team to design its own semiconductors, adding to a trend among technology companies to supply themselves and lower their dependence on chipmakers such as Intel Corp. and Qualcomm, according to job listings and people familiar with the matter.
The social media company is seeking to hire a manager to build an “endto-end SOC/ASIC, firmware and driver development organisation,” according to a job listing on its corporate website, indicating the effort is still in its early stages.
The Menlo Park, California-based company would join other technology giants tackling the massive effort to develop chips. In 2010, Apple started shipping its own chips and now uses them across many of its major product lines. Alphabet Inc’s Google has developed its own artificial intelligence chip as well.
Facebook could use such chips to power hardware devices, artificial intelligence software and servers in its data centres. Next month, the company will launch the Oculus Go, a $200 standalone virtual-reality headset that runs on a Qualcomm processor. Facebook is also working on a slew of smart speakers. Future generations of those devices could be improved by custom chipsets. By using its own processors, the company would have finer control over product development and would be able to better tune its software and hardware together.
Facebook declined to comment on the job postings.
A system on chip, or SOC, is a type of semiconductor that contains several discrete components built into one piece of silicon. They’re typically used in mobile devices where their space and power-saving properties are more valuable. The main functions of most smartphones are provided by SOCs.