this post was submitted on 01 Nov 2023
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Norway has succeeded in getting the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) to make permanent and extend across Europe its ban on Meta (Facebook's parent company) harvesting user data for targeted ads on Facebook and Instagram.

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[–] [email protected] 158 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Watch them cry foul, threaten to pull out, start a legal fight, then go nowhere like the abusive type they are.

[–] [email protected] 79 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (9 children)

I wish they would pull out. It's fucking ridiculous that so much of Europe is apparently just ok with using a Meta product for the defacto texting platform (WhatsApp).

[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Eh, it's not like we started using it because it was Meta's. They bought it when it was already popular, and switching everyone to something else is difficult.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, WhatsApp was ported to basically every single platform that was relevant in 2009-2010 when it launched: iOS, Android, Blackberry, Symbian, Series 40 and Windows Phone. Supporting Blackberry and Nokia mobile OS which were huge at the time as well as the new smartphone OS's was genius.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Sure I understand the reasons why it's this way, but it doesn't make it a good idea.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Oh, it's Messenger in Hungary. Not that it's any better, just saying.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Meta is the cancer of the internet. The sooner they leave the better.

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[–] [email protected] 104 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Meta's practices also collected protected data like race, religion, and sexual orientation. Meta disputed that it needed explicit consent, arguing that agreeing to terms of service was enough, but courts rejected this.

Oh please let this be the beginning of a global backlash against corporate EULA's and the start of a path towards a few well understood EULA's, similar to how we have a few well understood FOSS licenses.

[–] [email protected] 53 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 year ago (1 children)

[chuckles evilly in Norwegian]

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago (5 children)

This is awesome but I don't really understand.

The purported issue is that they don't have explicit consent for some data points. They apparently responded by saying they were going to charge a subscription.

Why wouldn't they just get consent? I'm sure most fb users will just agree to anything put in front of them.

[–] [email protected] 68 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Facebook collects data from various sites and doesn't care if you are a user or not.

How can you get a consent from someone who doesn't even know facebook collects data from?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is the funny thing. You don't. It has to be informed consent. ヾ(⌐■_■)ノ♪

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago

Which makes Meta’s entire business illegal in the EU, thus the lawsuits and bans

[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 year ago

It's about the part where they can't hide the data collection in the terms and conditions of the site. You have to have a separate clear consent step for them to collect the data.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago

However, regulators have questioned whether the prices are too high to give users a real choice.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

I bet there is something like what of they don’t consent? Then they have the choice to pay the subscription instead of being denied access to the site and therefore not make any money for Meta.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'd just like to thank the EU for having the data privacy laws that I suspect most Americans want but can't have because of the fact our country is owned by corporations

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (3 children)

They're already starting their paid ad-free $10 a month tiers for Europe only. They'll stop showing advertising to underage people "for now". They're going to flood Europe with garbage ads and maximize subscribers that way.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I can't fathom people willing to pay $10 for Facebook and twitter .

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hopefully they'll do that, so people would stop using their platform and move to a less money-hungry unetichal alternative.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (4 children)

What would the alternative be? A genuine question. I'm not a Facebook fan at all but here in Denmark so much is on Facebook. Announcements of the local playground, cafés, events, almost everyone uses messenger. It's insane. And if it's not on FB then it's on Instagram.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Isn't mastodon/the fediverse sponsored by the German government? Maybe we could do something around that

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Seems to be working for YouTube!

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And Amazon. Oh, and nowadays Microsoft has decided to join the club too.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (3 children)

a targeted advertising ban would kill just about every social media platform

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (7 children)

They could just run contextual ads for much less effort and privacy violations, and still get the same or better result.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago
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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Nice. As someone who deals with compliance I know it's gonna be a huge pain for them to deal with, which makes it even better.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I will only believe it when I see it. It has been a few years since the EU is threatening a ban and meta threatening to leave the EU, so far none has committed any action.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

EU didn't ban them because Meta complied. (the data protection bill, GDPR)

They will comply again, unfortunately. We could use a ban.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Must be nice living in countries where the government works for humans instead of corporations.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I can't wait for Facebook to take the time and energy to make two different versions of their platform. One to adhere to the EU regulations, and the other for everyone else that harvests every last bit of data.

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