Meta threatens to pull Facebook and Instagram from Europe if it can't target ads

[SolarNova]

Sounds good to me.. fk em.

 

From a tech stand point im all for the advancements made in communications, but social media has turned on us and is causing more harm than good imo.

I'd welcome anything that knocks down current social media a peg or two.

[Avocado Diaboli]

So, is this a promise? Because not having an American big tech megacorp headed by an emotionless android interfere with our democratic processes to elect fascist governments by letting big parts of the voting population become easy targets for misinformation and propaganda sounds like a dream come true for me. Heck, take WhatsApp with you for all I care. You need us more than we need you.

[IPD]

In general, anything that takes the piss with FB, Twitter, Google, Apple, MS or Amazon is fine by me.  I miss the days when the internet was open to all opinions (even the depraved ones) and there weren't egotistical maniacs with god complexes trying to sanitize the entire affair.

[IPD]

1 minute ago, Avocado Diaboli said:

So, is this a promise? Because not having an American big tech megacorp headed by an emotionless android interfere with our democratic processes to elect fascist governments by letting big parts of the voting population become easy targets for misinformation and propaganda sounds like a dream come true for me. Heck, take WhatsApp with you for all I care. You need us more than we need you.

He is an alien.  From a planetary system adjacent to the Talosian one that Bezos still needs to go back to.

[KaitouX]

10 minutes ago, IPD said:

In general, anything that takes the piss with FB, Twitter, Google, Apple, MS or Amazon is fine by me.  I miss the days when the internet was open to all opinions (even the depraved ones) and there weren't egotistical maniacs with god complexes trying to sanitize the entire affair.

When was that? Moderation existed as far as I can remember. It did go from often user moderation to companies being moderators in the more popular places, but niche sites/communities without moderators or with moderators that allow stupid opinions, still exist today just like they did in the past.

[Spindel]

3 minutes ago, KaitouX said:

When was that? Moderation existed as far as I can remember. It did go from often user moderation to companies being moderators in the more popular places, but niche sites/communities without moderators or with moderators that allow stupid opinions, still exist today just like they did in the past.

I would say I started to notice a big shift in how internet was around 2001-2002. 
 

I got my first home internet connection in 97 and it was a very different place. Saying WWW stood for wild wild west really isn’t that far from the trouth in those days. 

[yian88]

8 hours ago, Gamer Schnitzel said:

 Like I have said so many times before, the EU is the only hope in this world and I pray they put Facebook in their place by simply banning them completely from the content. The EU is known to be passive aggressive so it would be a realistic move.

 

The EU is as shit as it gets, China is just as bad, and US is the pinnacle of all shit. There is no one to defend us but us alone.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

Wait this would actually piss some people off

 

cant have a oculus account without Facebook, so no oculus in the EU

[Forbidden Wafer]

25 minutes ago, Helpful Tech Wiard said:

Wait this would actually piss some people off

 

cant have a oculus account without Facebook, so no oculus in the EU

[dizmo]

Frankly if they pull out of Europe, they'll be even better off than they are now. I kind of hope they do, and then the world can see how one of the largest social media platforms is really just a cancer to the human race.

 

10 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

"Once a lier, always a lier."

 

ie. i believe it when i see it = )

What's a lier?

10 hours ago, Gamer Schnitzel said:

Children are growing up with defective brains and absolutely incompetent. In 10 years there will be catastrophic economic effects when all the kids growing up on social media and furry porn are expected to go to work but simply cannot due to their hilarious amounts of mental health problems. This is also exactly why the anti-work reddit is growing so rapidly. Those people are not old economics who want to change the world but just young people who want to stay at home and browse memes because going outside and talking to humans gives them anxiety. Like I have said so many times before, the EU is the only hope in this world and I pray they put Facebook in their place by simply banning them completely from the content. The EU is known to be passive aggressive so it would be a realistic move.

The Anti-Work Reddit isn't actually that big, and there's likely always been a group that size that doesn't want to work. Also, IIRC it's largely US based, which is a country that's always been work before life. I, too, follow the notion that shorter work weeks, even at the cost of slightly longer days would make far more sense, and working from home where available could be a huge benefit. Not everyone that wants to work from home wants to simply browse memes, and saying that shows just how out of touch you really are with the issues at hand.

 

[PocketNerd]

Oh please Facebook, don't throw us in that lovely looking bouncy castle! Threaten us with a good time why-dont-you.

Please EU, call them on their bluff. You'd be doing us all a favor!

[lostcattears]

That is the weakest threat I have heard in a decade. Zero benefit for Meta to do that at all...

[Vanderburg]

"You promise?!"

[dimforest]

No, please, don't. 

 

....

[Zodiark1593]

Google and Apple each probably have enough influence (over both business and civilians) that they can probably actually utilize a Mutually Assured Destruction strategy to keep overly onerous regulations at bay. (Ie, it will be a lot of trouble to forcibly drag a substantial portion of the populace kicking and screaming off the Apple ecosystem, or Google Services which includes the expensive behemoth ofYouTube)
 

Unsure if Meta, even with all their platforms combined, can exert quite the same pressure.  Their flagship platform appears to have reached saturation and is on a slow decline, Whatsapp and Instagram both remain quite strong. If platforms such as Flickr can take up the slack, not a big hurdle. Given that Signal exists, losing Whatsapp is literally no consequence. The only potential sticking point being businesses that rely upon Meta for advertising. If this number is sufficiently low, Meta doesn’t have the leverage to execute MAD. 
 

This does screw over Oculus owners, however, there’s few enough that the EU can probably tell them to go pound sand if push comes to shove. If Meta skips out on the EU, I don’t even think they’d pay on a class action either.  
 

Overall, not super interesting. If it were Google or Apple on the other hand, I’d be demanding more popcorn. 

[Supreme Calamitas]

Facebook, We fucking quit

The whole world:


breaking news guys, the government is threatening to to end all Student loan dept and make collage free.

Nah but all jokes aside this would cause many businesses to collapse and suffer financially if not totally get wiped out. It seems like a genuine threat that you and your neighbor wouldn't like. Meta is still in the wrong here, Zuckerberg is playing Minecraft with his VR headset he doesn't have time for your reality, in his virtual world selling ads without targeting people is impossible, Its a universal law in his universe, like gravity to us.

[Kroon]

18 hours ago, lewdicrous said:

What financial benefit does meta provide to Europe? Do they pay taxes?

 

Not much, they avoid taxes and hardly any employees.  Most companied hat little or no interaction with Facebook anymore.  LinkedIIn have been growing a lot lately, everyone have moved there, even for private stuff you use to do on FaceBook. 

[Spindel]

5 hours ago, Zodiark1593 said:

Google and Apple each probably have enough influence (over both business and civilians) that they can probably actually utilize a Mutually Assured Destruction strategy to keep overly onerous regulations at bay. (Ie, it will be a lot of trouble to forcibly drag a substantial portion of the populace kicking and screaming off the Apple ecosystem, or Google Services which includes the expensive behemoth ofYouTube)
 

Unsure if Meta, even with all their platforms combined, can exert quite the same pressure.  Their flagship platform appears to have reached saturation and is on a slow decline, Whatsapp and Instagram both remain quite strong. If platforms such as Flickr can take up the slack, not a big hurdle. Given that Signal exists, losing Whatsapp is literally no consequence. The only potential sticking point being businesses that rely upon Meta for advertising. If this number is sufficiently low, Meta doesn’t have the leverage to execute MAD. 
 

This does screw over Oculus owners, however, there’s few enough that the EU can probably tell them to go pound sand if push comes to shove. If Meta skips out on the EU, I don’t even think they’d pay on a class action either.  
 

Overall, not super interesting. If it were Google or Apple on the other hand, I’d be demanding more popcorn. 

Read the article Google and Amazon are up next. 
 

So far there is no talk about Apple, most probably because they actually don’t mine user data. 

[WhitetailAni]

[IPD]

On 2/6/2022 at 10:50 AM, KaitouX said:

When was that? Moderation existed as far as I can remember. It did go from often user moderation to companies being moderators in the more popular places, but niche sites/communities without moderators or with moderators that allow stupid opinions, still exist today just like they did in the past.

Would you believe there was also a day when YT and FB moderation was basically to keep you from posting gore-porn and illegal activities...and that was it?

 

In 2022, now you get a 30 day jail sentence for posting memes.

[darknessblade]

Summary

Various sources give conflicting information, of Meta/Facebook Planning and/or not Planning to leave the EU

 

Quotes

Quote

 YAHOO news:
(Bloomberg) -- Meta Platforms Inc. has once again threatened to pull Facebook and Instagram from Europe if it is unable to keep transferring user data back to the U.S., amid negotiations between regulators to replace a scrapped privacy pact.

Quote

"iphoneincanada"

“We have absolutely no desire and no plans to withdraw from Europe, but the simple reality is that Meta, and many other businesses, organizations and services, rely on data transfers between the EU and the US in order to operate global services,” said the company spokesperson.

Quote

NU.nl {translated}

 

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, says it has "absolutely no intention or plans" to leave Europe.

The company is concerned about the lack of new agreements about sharing data of European users with the United States. If no solution is found, it could mean that Meta can no longer offer its services in the EU, the company recently wrote in its annual report.

 

My thoughts

It starts to look like Meta "facebook" is purposely trying to get as much conflicting news out, just so they can get what they want.

from what i can read most of the articles look like they are trying to confuse user/reader of what is really going on, in the hope they get the users support. hoping they do not care their data is stored on USA servers.

----

Worst part is they do not want to deal with EU regulators regarding CONSUMER protection, yet they still want to build massive datacenters within the EU?

 

In my opinion if Facebook is Purposely pulling out of the EU, they must also close ALL of their datacenters that they have build in the EU.

Like why would they still want to have datacenters, in the EU, but do not provide Any services to the EU?

 

Sources

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/meta-threatens-europe-exit-facebook-130221194.html?

https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/news/meta-data-europe/

https://thenewsmotion.com/meta-threatens-to-shut-down-facebook-and-instagram-in-europe/

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/meta-threatens-europe-exit-for-facebook-instagram-on-data-rules-1.1719441

https://www.republicworld.com/technology-news/social-media-news/meta-threatens-to-shut-down-facebook-instagram-in-europe-over-ban-on-data-transfer-articleshow.html

Dutch news article:

https://www.nu.nl/tech/6182637/facebook-moederbedrijf-heeft-absoluut-geen-plannen-voor-vertrek-uit-europa.html#coral_talk_wrapper

 

Article regarding facebooks new datacenter in the EU

https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/facebookmeta-confirms-its-behind-the-largest-data-center-in-zeewolde/

[Doobeedoo]

So they will cuck them selves and help Europe in a way? Bluffing or not, leaving would be a great news.

[darknessblade]

30 minutes ago, Doobeedoo said:

So they will cuck them selves and help Europe in a way? Bluffing or not, leaving would be a great news.

Especially if the EU says either leave 100% or follow our rules

 

Meaning they cannot operate ANY datacenters within the EU

[jagdtigger]

Would be hilarious if the EU would freeze their assets residing in their jurisdiction until they comply, or failing that confiscate them...

[darknessblade]

1 minute ago, jagdtigger said:

Would be hilarious if the EU would freeze their assets residing in their jurisdiction until they comply, or failing that confiscate them...

This is legally possible.

 

Facebook would be worse off with that. as the EU or somebody at the legal department could just drag it out as loong as legally possible. so if the legal term to submit document A is 30 days, that person would wait exactly 29 days 23 hours and 58 minutes before sending it.

 

Making sure it is verified to be send at that timestamp.

 

they do the exact same as Facebook or other big companies would, Yet they aren't the ones who have issue with it this time.

 

You can see this when companies have to abide to certain rules, they try to drag it out as long as they legally can.