Meta's Threads Skips EU, but Will Come to the UK
upstart writes:
Plus: Facebook corp loses appeal on crossing data streams in Germany:
Elon Musk's Twitter can breathe easy when it comes to the European Union - Meta's "Threads" will be steering clear.
This is because Mark Zuckerberg's company - which owns Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and more - will not launch its new Twitter-like service anywhere in the EU for the foreseeable future. But yes, it has arrived in Britain, London vultures have informed us.
Ireland's data protection watchdog, which oversees all the tech giants headquartered in the corporate tax-light country, told The Register that Meta had "confirmed to the DPC that they have no plans to roll out the service in the EU at present."
While it's hitting the US and the UK tomorrow - British and American influencers have reportedly already been offered early access - this Berlin-based vulture can confirm there's none of that here, not unless you wish to pipe your data across via VPN.
[...] Data privacy laws in the US are very loose, especially on a federal level, which is part of the reason why the various frameworks for data exchange between the European Union's member states and the United States keep failing when challenged in court.
However, it might come as a surprise to some that Meta doesn't appear to anticipate any regulatory trouble in the UK.
It's a signal that at least one tech giant expects the UK's "replacement for GDPR" - the second take on the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (DPDIB II) - to be more sympathetic than current British privacy legislation. Brexit dividend, anyone?
Meanwhile, over in Germany, Meta can't combine the data it collects about you on Facebook with the stuff you spill on Instagram and WhatsApp, or with other websites and apps you use, without getting your explicit permission.
[...] Back in January, Ireland's regulator stopped Meta from launching advertising services on WhatsApp that uses data from Facebook or Instagram.
The crossing of the data streams is not a problem for the Facebook giant in the US and UK, it seems.
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