7 ms·

Meta threatens to pull Facebook and Instagram from Europe if it can't target ads

65 points by marban 5y ago

tentacleuno 5y ago
Related discussion over at [0]. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30234026 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30234026
inthegreenwoods 5y ago
GianFabien 5y ago
It shouldn't take long for some enterprising Europeans to create a far better, less polarising social networking site. It could even be more culturally sensitive and inclusive.
- mcv 5y ago
  It shouldn't, and yet, why isn't there already one? There are plenty of innovative tech companies coming from Europe, but most of them get gobbled up by American ones, or never break through internationally. Interestingly, Netherland was one of the last countries where Facebook finally became the #1 social network; for a long time, a Dutch social network called Hives managed to hold out (over 10 year ago, mind you). And even now, Amazon isn't even in the top-3 of Dutch internet retailers. But I don't see bol.com or Cool Blue expanding internationally. It should absolutely be possible for European tech companies to compete with American ones, and yet it's not really happening. Where is the big European cloud provider designed around the EU's data protection rules? Why are big European internet retailers all national affairs and not at least EU-wide?
thunkshift1 5y ago
Please help me understand the use of the word ‘threaten’ here? I believe very few would care (for a very short time) if meta actually did that
the_autobot 5y ago
M_Moonshine_cc 5y ago
Yes please!
pxmpxm 5y ago
Didn't they just report the first the first time ever user decline? Not exactly a strong negotiating position.
- zeruch 5y ago
  Yes, they're fairly deleveraged here, and I'm surprised they did not coordinate responses better from a PR standpoint. Just amateur-hour clumsy.
aemoron 5y ago
I can live without both. I unfollowed everyone and everything on FB and log in maybe once a week on my PC to check for event invites. (Covid has diminished those too) On Instagram I only followed some old acquitances. Not really anything I could not live without. Stopped using it altogether. Now, I don't know if most people can live without them but I certainly can. Deleted both apps and never looked back. Weird seeing Meta threaten like this when their time on the limelight has come and gone. Tiktok is eating up Meta's users it seems and it shows.
- mcv 5y ago
  I wouldn't mind if the EU took a critical look at Tiktok's data use as well.
mhoad 5y ago
Don’t threaten us with a good time. Please leave.
new_guy 5y ago
And good riddance.
tluyben2 5y ago
What is an alternative that is not the same rotten and makes money to comply with the massive stack of rules you have to comply with now? Or has a way that is not needed (p2p content only).
- padraic7a 5y ago
  I guess the alternative is some other social media network (possibly European?), which will be more likely to be regulated from an earlier stage in it's lifecycle and therefore to be better behaved in terms of user privacy.
  - tluyben2 5y ago
    This is probably not going to happen anyway: I am more curious if we even have a viable alternative. If the network has user content, it will need a lot of money to hire people to moderate it. How can that be paid for without violating privacy (ads/selling data)? Or, alternatively, you make sure you store no user data. Or something else that I didn't think of which is why I was asking.
    - setaverso 5y ago
      Block cha cha chá chain.
      - tluyben2 5y ago
        Maybe, but it would be better if the personal info is not stored outside the computers of the people who agreed to share it amongst eachother than, as far as I understand with blockchain, having it stored everywhere (decentralized) and immutable (forever); while that has it's place to prevent censorship, it is seems not to fit social networks.
cute_boi 5y ago
Haha, next step is to publish this as front page news in newspaper tomorrow. Haha After this spread message how Facebook supports small creators and business in EU. We know all your tricks, Zuck sir. EU is scared ...
rcgorton 5y ago
0des 5y ago
That's funny, both because they won't actually ever do this, and because even in the alternate universe where they do, nobody cares. FB/Meta is living on borrowed time and lack the depth of wealth Microsoft had when they were in this situation. What makes this situation unique is Facebook is no longer able to innovate, both on its own or through acquiring innovators due to antitrust concerns. What comes next is an increase in rent seeking behavior, while fleecing the existing users and identifying whales.
Copernicron 5y ago
Didn't Meta just claim that they were all in favour of government regulations? Now they're whining and crying they have to follow the law. Good riddance to bad rubbish if they go through with it. Now if only we could get them to leave Canada.
- klyrs 5y ago
  They probably assumed that they would be the ones writing those regulations, and I think that's a fair assumption for the US market. Monopolies are big fans of regulatory capture, and politicians benefit greatly from them. The EU seems (to me, an outsider) to be more resistant to that sort of influence; at least from corps based in the US.
  - pjmlp 5y ago
    It helps that EU is still not a single country, so monopolies influence work differently across a collection of countries.
    - hulitu 5y ago
      No. They work the same. They just need more people.
keskival 5y ago
That's incorrect. They could well target ads by systems deployed in Europe. They just can't pass data to the USA.
zeruch 5y ago
Given this last quarter earnings tanked partially because they were no longer gaining new users, maybe that kind of posturing is going to fall flat.
baXlA 5y ago
Great news, good riddance! I'll miss the amusing fact checking though.
Rebelgecko 5y ago
If by "threatens" you mean "mentions an unlikely possibility in their form 10-k to cover their asses" Previously discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30207734 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30207734

65 points by marban 5y ago

Related discussion over at [0]. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30234026 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30234026

inthegreenwoods 5y ago

GianFabien 5y ago

It shouldn't take long for some enterprising Europeans to create a far better, less polarising social networking site. It could even be more culturally sensitive and inclusive.

mcv 5y ago
It shouldn't, and yet, why isn't there already one? There are plenty of innovative tech companies coming from Europe, but most of them get gobbled up by American ones, or never break through internationally. Interestingly, Netherland was one of the last countries where Facebook finally became the #1 social network; for a long time, a Dutch social network called Hives managed to hold out (over 10 year ago, mind you). And even now, Amazon isn't even in the top-3 of Dutch internet retailers. But I don't see bol.com or Cool Blue expanding internationally. It should absolutely be possible for European tech companies to compete with American ones, and yet it's not really happening. Where is the big European cloud provider designed around the EU's data protection rules? Why are big European internet retailers all national affairs and not at least EU-wide?

thunkshift1 5y ago

Please help me understand the use of the word ‘threaten’ here? I believe very few would care (for a very short time) if meta actually did that

the_autobot 5y ago

M_Moonshine_cc 5y ago

Yes please!

pxmpxm 5y ago

Didn't they just report the first the first time ever user decline? Not exactly a strong negotiating position.

zeruch 5y ago
Yes, they're fairly deleveraged here, and I'm surprised they did not coordinate responses better from a PR standpoint. Just amateur-hour clumsy.

aemoron 5y ago

I can live without both. I unfollowed everyone and everything on FB and log in maybe once a week on my PC to check for event invites. (Covid has diminished those too) On Instagram I only followed some old acquitances. Not really anything I could not live without. Stopped using it altogether. Now, I don't know if most people can live without them but I certainly can. Deleted both apps and never looked back. Weird seeing Meta threaten like this when their time on the limelight has come and gone. Tiktok is eating up Meta's users it seems and it shows.

mcv 5y ago
I wouldn't mind if the EU took a critical look at Tiktok's data use as well.

mhoad 5y ago

Don’t threaten us with a good time. Please leave.

new_guy 5y ago

And good riddance.

tluyben2 5y ago

What is an alternative that is not the same rotten and makes money to comply with the massive stack of rules you have to comply with now? Or has a way that is not needed (p2p content only).

padraic7a 5y ago
I guess the alternative is some other social media network (possibly European?), which will be more likely to be regulated from an earlier stage in it's lifecycle and therefore to be better behaved in terms of user privacy.
- tluyben2 5y ago
  This is probably not going to happen anyway: I am more curious if we even have a viable alternative. If the network has user content, it will need a lot of money to hire people to moderate it. How can that be paid for without violating privacy (ads/selling data)? Or, alternatively, you make sure you store no user data. Or something else that I didn't think of which is why I was asking.
  - setaverso 5y ago
    Block cha cha chá chain.
    - tluyben2 5y ago
      Maybe, but it would be better if the personal info is not stored outside the computers of the people who agreed to share it amongst eachother than, as far as I understand with blockchain, having it stored everywhere (decentralized) and immutable (forever); while that has it's place to prevent censorship, it is seems not to fit social networks.

cute_boi 5y ago

Haha, next step is to publish this as front page news in newspaper tomorrow. Haha After this spread message how Facebook supports small creators and business in EU. We know all your tricks, Zuck sir. EU is scared ...

rcgorton 5y ago

0des 5y ago

That's funny, both because they won't actually ever do this, and because even in the alternate universe where they do, nobody cares. FB/Meta is living on borrowed time and lack the depth of wealth Microsoft had when they were in this situation. What makes this situation unique is Facebook is no longer able to innovate, both on its own or through acquiring innovators due to antitrust concerns. What comes next is an increase in rent seeking behavior, while fleecing the existing users and identifying whales.

Copernicron 5y ago

Didn't Meta just claim that they were all in favour of government regulations? Now they're whining and crying they have to follow the law. Good riddance to bad rubbish if they go through with it. Now if only we could get them to leave Canada.

klyrs 5y ago
They probably assumed that they would be the ones writing those regulations, and I think that's a fair assumption for the US market. Monopolies are big fans of regulatory capture, and politicians benefit greatly from them. The EU seems (to me, an outsider) to be more resistant to that sort of influence; at least from corps based in the US.
- pjmlp 5y ago
  It helps that EU is still not a single country, so monopolies influence work differently across a collection of countries.
  - hulitu 5y ago
    No. They work the same. They just need more people.

keskival 5y ago

That's incorrect. They could well target ads by systems deployed in Europe. They just can't pass data to the USA.

zeruch 5y ago

Given this last quarter earnings tanked partially because they were no longer gaining new users, maybe that kind of posturing is going to fall flat.

baXlA 5y ago

Great news, good riddance! I'll miss the amusing fact checking though.

Rebelgecko 5y ago

If by "threatens" you mean "mentions an unlikely possibility in their form 10-k to cover their asses" Previously discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30207734 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30207734