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Meta accused of ‘massive, illegal’ data collection operation by European consumer rights groups. | CNN Business

Meta accused of ‘massive, illegal’ data collection operation by European consumer rights groups. | CNN Business::European consumer rights groups are accusing Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, of carrying out a “massive” and “illegal” operation of collecting data from hundreds of millions of its users in the region.

cosmicrookie ,
@cosmicrookie@lemmy.world avatar

Leaving Facebook is not as difficult as i feared and expected. I did it back in October when they introduced paid unreasonable subscriptions (that still would track anything i did) and asked for my account to be deleted yesterday when they forced new privacybpolicy to messenger (or the option to create a new non facebook messenger account).

The hardest part was finding online communities about my hobbies. But then you realize that the online communities on Facebook are mostly toxic or spam content.

When in finally did find the place where you can delete your account (thianis quite well hidden) in was even given the option of tramsferimg all my pictures and videos over to cloud storage services like Dropbox, Google photos etc.

They will procedebwith the account deletion within 30 daysnand i am quite happy to finally have left the platform and it's sister platforms. In had planned non using what's app for messaging but realized that itbalsonis owned by meta and that if they don't already track me there, they eventually will

Treczoks , (edited )

I hope they get Facebook by the balls for this. I know that Facebook has data about me without my consent - it asks users to basically upload their addressbooks to "find friends", and people who have my data in their addressbook are on Facebook. And I don't believe that if the Facebook algorithm does not find a match for an address book entry immediately just deletes that entry. Heck, even that matching violates my rights to my data.

jimmydoreisalefty ,
@jimmydoreisalefty@lemmy.world avatar

The groups claim that Meta (META) collects an unnecessary amount of information on its users — such as data used to infer their sexual orientation, emotional state or even their susceptibility to addiction — which they are unable to freely consent to.

“With its illegal practices, Meta fuels the surveillance-based ads system which tracks consumers online and gathers vast amounts of personal data for the purpose of showing them adverts,” the BEUC said in a statement.

Last May, EU regulators fined the tech giant a record-breaking €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) for violating GDPR rules by transferring the personal data of Facebook users to servers in the United States.

In October, EU regulators forced Meta to start asking for explicit consent from its users to process their personal information for the purpose of delivering them targeted advertisements.

But the BEUC argued Thursday that Meta’s subscription service offers users “an unfair and misleading choice” as its data processing isn’t transparent, meaning users cannot know how subscribing would change the way their information is processed. Moreover, Meta’s market dominance means that users cannot easily leave its platforms without cutting themselves off from their family and friends.

MGN22 ,
@MGN22@lemmy.world avatar

All they have to do is say the data was collected to prevent Covid or white nationalism and everyone here will thank them and ask for more.

militaryintelligence ,

It's the WoKe MiNd vIrUs

SomeGuy69 ,

They realized it's better to grab the data, obfuscate and hide them and just pay whatever fin. Data once locked behind any sort of protection or paywall might never be available ever again, so grab like a kleptomaniac.

Mastengwe ,

Meta is Facebook and X is Twitter.

I refuse to subscribe to their attempts to distance themselves from their own bullshit by rebranding.

LifeInMultipleChoice ,

Understandable but if they said Facebook I would know what they meant, if they say Meta I have to verify if it is Facebook, Instagram, or Threads.

Drummyralf ,

I would suggest you mark "meta" as bullshit in your brain. If you only mark Facebook as bullshit, you unconsciously ignore Whatsapp, Instagram, Oculus, and all their other products.

Mastengwe ,

It’s ALL bullshit. But meta is always Facebook to me. I don’t care what that douche wants to call it.

glouriousgouda ,
@glouriousgouda@lemmy.myserv.one avatar

Wow, so this is what it looks like when a country decides to stand up for it's people and protects our privacy. Neat.

cosmicrookie ,
@cosmicrookie@lemmy.world avatar

It's not the actual countries doing it but consumer organizations in those countries. The reason they can though is because EU has set up rules to protect its people.

glouriousgouda ,
@glouriousgouda@lemmy.myserv.one avatar

That's a very poor understanding of how laws and regulations are ratified and passed into law. A consumer org can't just say "hey, don't do this!" and they just have to stop.

moistclump ,

No but I imagine they can organize and funds and act as a plaintiff.

HootinNHollerin ,

Lock zucc up

gregorum ,
@gregorum@lemm.ee avatar

And I’m sure that a years-long court battle that results in a fine of 0.01% of their hourly revenue will totally teach them a lesson! Again!

Noerttipertti ,

Or 4 % of their total global turnover of the preceding fiscal year...

RobotToaster ,
@RobotToaster@mander.xyz avatar

They'll be given another fine for an hour or so of profit.

RoseRose56 ,
@RoseRose56@lemmy.world avatar

So what? They should not fine them?
Facebook is dead, mainly old people and ads are keeping it running.
If you have any other ideas, please tell us!

RobotToaster ,
@RobotToaster@mander.xyz avatar

I'm suggesting they should fine them an amount that will actually hurt.

wewbull ,

Best get their money before it disappears then.

Danksy ,

Meta holds the record for the largest gdpr fine at 1,2 billion euro.

AndOfTheSevenSeas ,
@AndOfTheSevenSeas@lemmy.world avatar

I detest meta as much as anyone but the idea it’s legally liable for collecting the data you are actively putting onto it’s sites is idiotic.

maynarkh ,

It's the law though. If you do business in the EU, you can only use data given to you for the exact purpose it was given to you for. If you want to sell it, you have to ask permission.

nightwatch_admin ,

It’s not necessarily the stuff you post, I actually think they don’t give a toss about your shoddy announcement of breakfast or casual whatevers. But they do love to collect your meta-data, to slap some ultra targeted ads right in your drooling facade and sell your profile to other advertisers for lolz and profit. Your IP address, your age and preferences, and the things you really like (for example your clicks on “like” but also your eye movements, your pauses when scrolling) instead of the things you say you like, tracking you across the whole goddamn internet.
Also, you don’t need to be on Facebook at all to get tracked and sold (shadow profiles are the absolute shit).

homesweethomeMrL ,

I detest meta as much as anyone

Mmmmm well, try harder.

veeesix ,
@veeesix@lemmy.ca avatar

“We are gravely concerned about Meta’s practices,” a spokesperson for the Norwegian Data Protection Authority told CNN Thursday.

And yet Europeans will flock in droves to get everyone and their grandmother to make WhatsApp their default messaging app.

Mannimarco ,

It was the default before Facebook bought it, switching now is a pain in the ass

gravitas_deficiency ,

Which is exactly why Facebook bought it.

Mannimarco ,

I know, I'm just getting a little tired of people blaming individuals for still using Whatsapp

PhobosAnomaly ,

I mean, it sucks yes, but there has to be an acceptance that if you continue to use Meta products in the knowledge that Meta will rip you off for every shred of data that they can, then there's not really a defence of ignorance any more.

Meta are absolutely a cunty company, but it's not as if that's not common knowledge any more.

It will only stay as the default messaging platform for as long as people bury their heads in the sand as tradeoff for convenience.

Mannimarco ,

You say it's common knowledge, but in my experience people don't know this, and in a lot of cases people don't give a shit

And Facebook is still working very hard to hide stuff like this from people, the reality is that unless you engage on platforms like this or are looking for it you won't see it

glouriousgouda ,
@glouriousgouda@lemmy.myserv.one avatar

I left about 1.5 years ago. All of the major socials that is. And honestly, in places like this, it felt kinda "empty". So I'd peek in every once in a while just to see if I could figure out what it is. And it's all the obviously controlled noise that is attached to every aspect of me using the service(s). Location, device type, browser type, personal demographics, political stuff etc. I deleted everything shortly after that.

It was the noise I was missing. Just the garbage and the noise. I don't think you can fully appreciate how prevalent it is until you don't have it occupying so much personal real-estate. (time/space/attention)

homesweethomeMrL ,

True. Well, it’s dystopia for us then.

RageAgainstTheRich ,

I tried so hard getting my family to switch to Signal and they just won't. My mother did though! But we kept having calling issues so we had to switch back to whatsapp for that. Eventually we only used whatsapp again. Nobody else uses Signal and since they removed the functionality to receive text messages in the Signal app, i just removed it. It sucks because i want to use it.

BlackArtist ,
@BlackArtist@lemmy.world avatar

I had the same issue, managed to get my 78 year old mother to swap then they removed text, so now no one in the family will swap.

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