A top watchdog dealing with data protection of users from the United Kingdom is giving tech giant Meta a stern warning against its recent practices.
It was only yesterday that we heard about Meta offering to attain consent from EU users for data tracking to fulfill their needs of ad targeting. But it was shocking to see how the company opted to exclude the UK but if you think that would go unnoticed, think again.
The watchdog explained how such behavior would not be tolerated and how asking for consent to attain surveillance was the right of every user that Meta was in no position to deny.
The ICO issued a post on the matter and how they take such things very seriously as a digital regulator. Hence, they want the firm to know that what it’s doing internationally must be done in the same manner here. And only then can it be applauded for respecting the rights of citizens.
The matter is now being investigated and it hopes to generate an appropriate reply soon as they’re really seeing things occur, step by step as time evolves. But one thing is for sure, the UK does not appear to be pleased with the firm as Meta seems to be unfair in terms of giving equal respect to its global users.
They further added how the news was shocking and it also appeared awkward to simply exclude the UK while including the EU, Switzerland, and more. Meta not feeling the need to offer a similar level of respect to all and just continue taking their data without asking is terrible.
The news is also shocking because it happens to come at a period when the UK’s law linked to data regulation and protection is based upon GDPR.
This also follows the fact that a major ruling came at the start of this year when the EU made the GDPR mandatory. Last month, we saw Norway issue a ban against the ads linked to user behavior due to legal matters and it failed to wait for approval from Ireland which is the top regulator for Facebook’s parent firm.
The total effect of these little changes has made people realize that Meta is left with no choice but to take consent from users in the EU or face legal proceedings. And while the former is definitely a huge risk and can several impact its ads, Meta has no choice.
Read next: Meta's Trust Fall: Can Human Rights Groups Catch Them?
It was only yesterday that we heard about Meta offering to attain consent from EU users for data tracking to fulfill their needs of ad targeting. But it was shocking to see how the company opted to exclude the UK but if you think that would go unnoticed, think again.
The watchdog explained how such behavior would not be tolerated and how asking for consent to attain surveillance was the right of every user that Meta was in no position to deny.
The ICO issued a post on the matter and how they take such things very seriously as a digital regulator. Hence, they want the firm to know that what it’s doing internationally must be done in the same manner here. And only then can it be applauded for respecting the rights of citizens.
The matter is now being investigated and it hopes to generate an appropriate reply soon as they’re really seeing things occur, step by step as time evolves. But one thing is for sure, the UK does not appear to be pleased with the firm as Meta seems to be unfair in terms of giving equal respect to its global users.
They further added how the news was shocking and it also appeared awkward to simply exclude the UK while including the EU, Switzerland, and more. Meta not feeling the need to offer a similar level of respect to all and just continue taking their data without asking is terrible.
The news is also shocking because it happens to come at a period when the UK’s law linked to data regulation and protection is based upon GDPR.
This also follows the fact that a major ruling came at the start of this year when the EU made the GDPR mandatory. Last month, we saw Norway issue a ban against the ads linked to user behavior due to legal matters and it failed to wait for approval from Ireland which is the top regulator for Facebook’s parent firm.
The total effect of these little changes has made people realize that Meta is left with no choice but to take consent from users in the EU or face legal proceedings. And while the former is definitely a huge risk and can several impact its ads, Meta has no choice.
Read next: Meta's Trust Fall: Can Human Rights Groups Catch Them?
