A multi-angled look at the consequences of Facebook Meta’s information leak
FREMONT: A recently published extensive report on Facebook’s business situation brings the situation created by the lack of enforcement of European privacy laws. The report analysis is based on internal documents written in the previous year by privacy engineers on FB’s ad and business product team. This brings new insight into a global situation that struggles to protect the personal information of individuals.
The social media giant Meta, formerly known as Facebook, faces an arduous task of ensuring that the social media giant’s data consuming ads remain business compliant regarding the new wave of global privacy regulations. This will allow the company to analyse how user data flows through its system, allowing the enterprise to control how information is handled and give a complete picture of its user’s privacy choices.
The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) recently took part in an investigation to obtain information about Meta’s ad data flows. It was found that the ad system exists in a state that’s antithetical to regulation. The documented reports also showed that it was relevant to several ongoing investigations into aspects of Facebook’s business. The crux of this investigation indicates that the EU is almost four years into enforcement of its ‘flagship’ data protection regime, and Facebook itself remains untouched by GDPR enforcement.
If a company like Facebook had been paying attention to compulsory legal requirements around privacy by design and EU regulators had been staunch enough to enforce these long-standing rules, Meta may not have had to currently be warning investors about recurring problems affecting their shareholder value. The challenge they now face is monumentally expensive and resource-intensive. Looking ahead, the company might need to completely re-engineer its current data management model and protect its customer’s privacy.
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