Photo by Kon Karampelas on Unsplash [Download]

Facebook, Belgian watchdog face off over who should police company

The case also has the potential to unleash a flood of investigations by national agencies in the 27-country bloc into other U.S.

Under landmark EU privacy rules known as the General Data Protection Regulation and its one-stop-shop mechanism, the Irish privacy authority is the lead authority for Facebook as the companys European head office is based in Ireland.

The European Commission, which backs Facebook, said it was important to have a tool that ensures consistency in applying GDPR rules across the bloc.

The Belgian data protection authority , which has the support of the Polish and Belgian governments, said GDPR rules allow for some leeway for national agencies to act in their own country.

Court President Koen Lenaerts said there could be a problem if national watchdogs were not allowed to fight for their citizens, which in turn would force people to file private lawsuits.

The Irish watchdog has opened cases into Facebook, Facebook-owned Instagram and WhatsApp as well as Twitter, Apple, Verizon Media, Microsoft-owned LinkedIn and U.S.

Original article
Author: Foo Yun Chee

Reuters.com brings you the latest news from around the world, covering breaking news in markets, business, politics, entertainment, technology, video and pictures.

Foo Yun Chee has recently written 11 articles on similar topics including :
  1. "Alphabet unit Google on Wednesday opened a centre to tackle harmful online content, in a move also designed to ease regulatory concerns about how the company and other tech giants police a growing problem on the internet". (January 27, 2021)
  2. "Europe's antitrust chief, Margrethe Vestager, has warned Apple Inc to give equal treatment to all apps on its platform amid the iPhone maker's privacy changes that have drawn charges of anti-competitive practices from rival Facebook Inc". (February 8, 2021)
  3. "Facebook is suing EU antitrust regulators for seeking information beyond what is necessary, including highly personal details, for their investigations into the company's data and marketplace, the U.S. social media group said on Monday". (July 27, 2020)
  4. "Alphabet's Google is set to win EU antitrust approval for its $2.1 billion acquisition of fitness tracker maker Fitbit with its latest concessions to address EU antitrust concerns, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday". (September 29, 2020)
  5. "The latest clash between Facebook and Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems could disrupt hundreds of thousands of companies as Europe's top court rules on Thursday on the legality of tools companies use to transfer Europeans' data around the world". (July 16, 2020)
  6. "Facebook's acquisition of customer service startup Kustomer may be subjected to European Union antitrust scrutiny after Austria asked EU enforcers to take over the task, the European Commission said on Tuesday". (April 6, 2021)
  7. "EU antitrust regulators have sought information from advertisers regarding Google's advertising technology practices, a European Commission document seen by Reuters shows". (January 20, 2021)
  8. "EU antitrust enforcers are asking interested parties whether Google's pledge not to use fitness tracker maker Fitbit's health data for its advertising, and to separate the dataset from its own, might ease concerns over their tie up". (July 15, 2020)
  9. "Google will face a full-scale EU antitrust investigation into its planned $2.1 billion bid for fitness tracker maker Fitbit unless it offers concessions to address competition concerns, people familiar with the matter said". (July 9, 2020)
  10. "Alphabet's Google is set to win EU antitrust approval for its $2.1 billion purchase of fitness tracker maker Fitbit to take on Apple and Samsung in the wearable technology market, people familiar with the matter said". (September 29, 2020)
  11. "Companies hoping the EU and the new U.S. administration will soon strike a new transatlantic data transfer pact to replace one struck down by a court will probably have to wait months for any result, the head of the EU privacy watchdog said on Friday". (December 4, 2020)
Posted on  , , , , , , ,