German Minister Expresses Concern Over Facebook
German Justice Minister Katarina Barley, has expressed ongoing concern over Facebook’s behaviour saying sufficient actions have not been done yet.
Recall that months ago the social media giant became embroiled in a data misuse scandal which affected up to 87 million users around the world.
“We see that the consequences of this have not been sufficiently drawn yet,’’ Barley said in Luxembourg, ahead of talks on the issue with her 27 EU counterparts.
She demanded more transparency on who had been affected by the scandal, as well as stricter rules to identify who is posting content online.
Facebook admitted in April that it had improperly shared personal user data with the data analysis firm Cambridge Analytica, which was hired to influence the 2016 Brexit referendum in Britain as well as the U.S. election campaign that year.
Company chief Mark Zuckerberg has since sought to make amends, apologising in a hearing before the U.S. Congress and to EU lawmakers, as well as pledging to apply new European data protection rules globally.
“There is still reason for concern over Facebook’s behaviour,’’ the German minister said.
“The fact, for example, that face recognition technology is now being reintroduced is not a confidence-building measure,’’ she added.
Facebook introduced its face recognition technology in 2012 but disabled it for European users.
In April it launched the option for users in the EU, as well in Canada, to activate the feature.
EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova said she hoped to hear from ministers what safeguards could be introduced to protect against election meddling.
“We have to speak about how safe are our electoral processes,’’ she noted.
