European privacy policy not extended globally
SANFRANCISCO/WASHINGTON: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said he agrees “in spirit” with a strict new European Union law on data privacy but stopped short of committing to it as the standard for the social network across the world.
As Facebook reels from a scandal over the mishandling of personal information belonging to millions of users, the company is facing demands to improve privacy and learn lessons from the landmark EU law scheduled to take effect next month.
Zuckerberg told Reuters in a telephone interview that Facebook was working on a version of the law that would work globally, bringing some European privacy guarantees worldwide, but demurred when asked what parts of the law he would not extend worldwide.
“We’re still nailing down details on this, but it should directionally be, in spirit, the whole thing,” Zuckerberg said.
His comments signal that US Facebook users, many of them still angry over the company’s admission that political consultancy Cambridge Analytica got hold of Facebook data on 50 million members, could find themselves in a worse position than Europeans.
The European law is the biggest overhaul of online privacy since the birth of the internet, giving Europeans the right to know what data is stored on them and the right to have it deleted. Apple Inc and other tech firms have said they do plan to give people in the US and elsewhere the same protections and rights.
ZUCKERBERG TO TESTIFY BEFORE U.S. CONGRESS ON APRIL 11
Zuckerberg will testify in Congress over the hijacking of users’ data by Cambridge Analytica, a House committee announced on Wednesday.
The hearing, set for April 11 before the House energy and commerce committee, aims to “shed light on critical consumer data privacy issues and help all Americans better understand what happens to their personal information online”.