3 ms·

"You chose to use the Facebook service, you chose to provide this information to them, and you chose to agree to their terms of service." Likewise, Facebook ch

"You chose to use the Facebook service, you chose to provide this information to them, and you chose to agree to their terms of service." Likewise, Facebook chose to operate under the laws of the various lands in which it operates.

chc 15y ago
I'm honestly unclear about this: Does Facebook actually have any operations in the EU, or does it merely not ban Europeans from accessing its servers in America?
- pyre 15y ago
  It has a headquarters in Ireland. Apparently Ireland is a popular tax haven. Ireland is also part of the EU... Oops!
  - rmc 15y ago
    Ireland also has a lot of high tech companies. If you watch the video you'll see they have several floors of staff, not just a brass plate. It's possible Facebook et al. are in Ireland for more than the tax breaks.
  - bmacauley 15y ago
    Ireland isn't the tax haven, although it has a very low corporate tax rate of 12.5 %. They are in Ireland to channel cash to tax havens, such as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, using the 'double Irish' and 'Dutch sandwich' tax avoidance techniques Google's Tax Tricks: 'Double Irish' And 'Dutch Sandwich' http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/10/21/130727655/google-s-tax-tricks-double-irish-and-dutch-sandwich http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/10/21/130727655/google-s...
- estel 15y ago
  Users signing up in Europe will form a contract with Facebook Ireland Limited, who are registered and operate under EU law. It's not just a legal entity either, there's a pretty sizable engineering and support presence.
- nknight 15y ago
  http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?factsheet http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?factsheet Dublin, Hamburg, London, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Stockholm. Even if they didn't actually have physical offices in Europe, there are any number of situations in which Facebook may end up subjecting itself to some European laws. Consider: * Taking advertising from European companies. * Partnering with European developers on its platform. * Using the services of European companies (datacenters, bandwidth, marketing...). * Employing European employees, whether as ordinary employees or contractors. * Attempting to enforce trademarks or copyrights in Europe. In addition, if they wish European corporations to use Facebook to communicate with their customers, they need to not do anything that would expose those corporations to potential liability under European law. There are a half-billion people in EU territory. They are on average relatively well-educated and wealthy consumers. That'd be one hell of a market to cut yourself off from financially.

chc 15y ago

I'm honestly unclear about this: Does Facebook actually have any operations in the EU, or does it merely not ban Europeans from accessing its servers in America?

pyre 15y ago
It has a headquarters in Ireland. Apparently Ireland is a popular tax haven. Ireland is also part of the EU... Oops!
- rmc 15y ago
  Ireland also has a lot of high tech companies. If you watch the video you'll see they have several floors of staff, not just a brass plate. It's possible Facebook et al. are in Ireland for more than the tax breaks.
- bmacauley 15y ago
  Ireland isn't the tax haven, although it has a very low corporate tax rate of 12.5 %. They are in Ireland to channel cash to tax havens, such as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, using the 'double Irish' and 'Dutch sandwich' tax avoidance techniques Google's Tax Tricks: 'Double Irish' And 'Dutch Sandwich' http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/10/21/130727655/google-s-tax-tricks-double-irish-and-dutch-sandwich http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/10/21/130727655/google-s...
estel 15y ago
Users signing up in Europe will form a contract with Facebook Ireland Limited, who are registered and operate under EU law. It's not just a legal entity either, there's a pretty sizable engineering and support presence.
nknight 15y ago
http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?factsheet http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?factsheet Dublin, Hamburg, London, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Stockholm. Even if they didn't actually have physical offices in Europe, there are any number of situations in which Facebook may end up subjecting itself to some European laws. Consider: * Taking advertising from European companies. * Partnering with European developers on its platform. * Using the services of European companies (datacenters, bandwidth, marketing...). * Employing European employees, whether as ordinary employees or contractors. * Attempting to enforce trademarks or copyrights in Europe. In addition, if they wish European corporations to use Facebook to communicate with their customers, they need to not do anything that would expose those corporations to potential liability under European law. There are a half-billion people in EU territory. They are on average relatively well-educated and wealthy consumers. That'd be one hell of a market to cut yourself off from financially.