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Meta is blocking EU-based users from accessing Threads via VPN
- spacebanana7 3y agoIs it possible they're just blocking VPN users entirely? Nothing in the article mentioned non-EU VPNs
- alam2000 3y ago[dead]
- csomar 3y agoI'm guessing they are blocking users from Europe regardless of where they are connecting from. It'll be interesting if people will change their location because of that.
- dewey 3y agoNo, it works fine without a VPN from the EU. It only matters if you have the app or not and you can just get it with a US app store account.
- sparkling 3y agoVery possible. VPN detection technology like https://focsec.com/ https://focsec.com/ is widely available nowadays.
- ancientworldnow 3y agoVPN works fine on it in the US.
- spacebanana7 3y agoThanks for testing - I wasn't able to.
- PappGaborSandor 3y agoGood.
- nickserv 3y agoIf there was any doubt EU privacy laws were of any use, here is some proof.
- dewey 3y agoI doubt it's related to privacy at all, it's not different than the Instagram app which is available everywhere.
- troupo 3y agoPeople think it's mostly related to Digital Markets Act https://www.theverge.com/23789754/threads-meta-twitter-eu-dma-digital-markets https://www.theverge.com/23789754/threads-meta-twitter-eu-dm... --- start quote --- Mosseri attributed the postponement to a variety of issues. But he specifically noted rules preventing Meta from mixing the data it collects from users across products like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. ... The DMA prevents companies as big as Meta from reusing a user’s personal data — including their name and location — across its products for targeted advertising without user consent. --- end quote ---
- tough 3y agoWhat I read between those lines Meta: There's this small inconvenience for us, that if we decide to ignore the European market instead of fixing it goes away. They clearly are extorting the EU with their -now I won't work here- techniques. Good riddance if you ask me
- em-bee 3y agothey knew this going in, so my guess is that they took a shortcut with pushing instragram users into threads in order to make it successful quickly. and now they are quietly working on cleaning up in order to enter the EU market later.
- ahahahahah 3y agoI don't understand your point. Do you think that Meta should be obligated to provide their services everywhere? If I'm running a company, and the laws in Italy would require more work to comply with than the value I would receive from being in Italy, how could you somehow possibly fault me for deciding that the best thing for my company is to just not be available in Italy?
- janAkali 3y ago> To view this this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. What a joke is this site? Ever heard of screenshots? Why does text-based content have to be embedded anyway? Ok, it is hard to press couple buttons, paste a picture, edit, align it, etc.. Then just give me a link.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- lacrimacida 3y agoWhy do they bother though? Both Meta to block the users and the users attempting to use Threads..
- Zambyte 3y agoFacebook: to pressure the EU to back down on their privacy laws People: FOMO
- codetrotter 3y agoThere are two reasons that I see which Meta might be doing this: 1. They know that Threads is doing things which are not acceptable by EU rules. 2. They want to fight the EU so that EU makes rules that allow Meta to disregard the privacy of their users.
- foepys 3y agoOr maybe they know that their plans to connect to the fediverse will leave them with tons of personal data they wouldn't be allowed to collect under GDPR. Although that doesn't matter since the EU is considering any company worldwide to be subject to GDPR when they collect data from EU residents.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- ctvo 3y agoOr it costs time and resources to meet EU regulations and they launched in other marketplaces first while they work on complying, and verifying their compliance with the laws? This isn't uncommon for new products, and there doesn't need to be a conspiracy theory.
- IshKebab 3y agoSo that GDPR doesn't apply to them.
- Ambroos 3y agoMost likely they are just blocking all users who have an EU home country associated with their Instagram account. Meta determines an account home country based on a lot of different signals, and it takes weeks to months to update after actually moving. Just using a VPN is not enough to get it to update in a short amount of time. Even as a Meta employee I remember it taking multiple months after moving from Europe to the US before I could use US-gated products (late 2020/early 2021).
- tough 3y agoSo better create a new account? Oh wait you'll get asked for id verification. lmao
- vitorgrs 3y agoNo, you do not get asked for ID verification.
- conformist 3y agoCan confirm empirically that using a VPN from a European country is not sufficient to be blocked.
- glanzwulf 3y agoBut you don't need a VPN to access it. As long as you can install the app, you can use it, no need for VPN. That's how I've been trying it out just to see what the fuss is all about.
- r-spaghetti 3y agoWhy does anyone take this marketing spin seriously? No one in Europe is waiting for another data collector from the world's biggest internet criminal.
- apples_oranges 3y agoLucky you. You haven't met any actual internet criminals, it seems.
- yjftsjthsd-h 3y agoAre you arguing that Meta isn't breaking any laws? Including the GDPR?
- ahahahahah 3y agoEh, this site almost certainly violates GDPR. If you're going to go around calling jaywalkers criminals, then fine, but then you'll quickly stop getting the emotional reaction you are begging for when you use the word.
- Nasrudith 3y agoProbably more along the lines of "Meta doesn't commit identity theft, ruin my credit score, or drain my bank account." The harms are far more abstract and theoretically, thus calling them criminals can come across as a little histrionic even if technically correct.
- herbst 3y agoTheir whole promo is scam 'faster growing than ChatGPT' you wish Zuckerberg, you just migrated existing users nothing more.
- constantcrying 3y ago>No one in Europe is waiting for another data collector from the world's biggest internet criminal. Surely nobody in Europe would use an app designed to share photos of themselves on the public web and from said company.
- pavlov 3y agoWithholding Threads is most likely a negotiation tactic in the broader context of how EU’s new Digital Markets Act “gatekeeper” rules are applied to Meta. Threads is basically a new view into your Instagram account. That’s a common model in mobile apps (e.g. Meta’s existing FB and Messenger apps, or Microsoft’s Office and OneDrive apps suite, or thousands of others). There’s no inherent reason why “log in from a different app id” would suddenly be problematic under DMA. By not releasing Threads, Meta signals that they want an agreement to be in place with the regulators about the details of EU DMA oversight before they’ll bring new products to the market. It’s a way to get consumer demand to apply pressure.
- segmondy 3y ago[flagged]
- _djo_ 3y agoOr, some US tech companies grew massive and greedy off violating the privacy of hundreds of millions of people and can't think of a business model that works when even the most basic data rights rules are implemented.
- Sprint9935 3y agoIts not the money, they are annoyed over the flagrant disregard of their rules over privacy and election meddling.
- floomk 3y ago[dead]
- pornel 3y agoMulti-billion dollar companies aren't "sick of" things on a whim. They have shareholders, and a business to run. Facebook needs to protect their tracking-based advertising business. Not only EU privacy laws directly impact it in the 27 countries, but often act as a precedent for similar laws elsewhere.
- pavlov 3y ago
- lloydatkinson 3y agoAs someone from the EU, thank you. Enough Facebook (sorry, "Meta") misinformation here is only a good thing.
- apples_oranges 3y agoAs someone else from the EU, I disagree, and I wish our citizens would think independently and critically about individual issues, instead of repeating the same anti-x (x here being Facebook apparently) sentiments ad infinitum.
- em-bee 3y agohow do you tell if someone is repeating anti facebook sentiments they heard elsewhere, or making these statements because they came to the same conclusion after critically and independently thinking about the issue of privacy themselves? i would counter that, if the claims are true, then it does not matter if they repeat it or realized it on their own. it is obviously an issue they care about. and if the claims are false, then i'd like to see the evidence that all the already known privacy violations are made up or at least overblown, and were not intended but honest mistakes. facebook has not given me any indication that they should be trusted. compare that to apple, who has presented a privacy stance at least, even if they don't implement it everywhere, and i'd be much more likely to believe them than facebook.
- thesuitonym 3y agoI can't understand why people are letting this happen. Not Threads blocking the EU, but Threads at all. Everyone--everyone--knows how bad Meta is for privacy, advertising, and election tampering. So many people, especially those in the target demographic of Threads, have left Facebook because either they've witnessed the site get worse and worse overtime, to the point where it lost all utility for them. Why are we doing this? This is a perfect opportunity for everyone to say no. No, we don't want another privacy invading advertising engine. And yet, everyone is just rolling over and accepting it.
- MicropenisMike 3y agoBecause the alternative is Twitter.
- 31337Logic 3y agoAs someone in EU who uses a VPN, thank you Meta for preemptively improving my mental health. The addictive horrors of social media are well documented by now. Thanks for doing us all a BIG favour and giving us huge chunks of useful time back. I'm going outside to enjoy the real world now.
- claaams 3y agoThe interface and user experience of threads is pretty awful so it also does a good job of being boring and painful enough that you won't want to use it.
- omgmajk 3y agoThreads already have all the data they need on anyone because of the rest of the Meta dragnet so this is pretty confusing honestly. I wouldn't use it anyways but seems like a weird way to not make money. Or is threads still not monetized?
- dabedee 3y agoFacebook deserves credit for its systematic and consistent complete disregard of user privacy; for deflecting responsibility and pointing fingers at governments and legislation that prevent it from doing whatever it wants; and for pitting users and governments against each other as if they were the culprit. Facebook deserves credit for always doing the wrong thing. At this point, if a product even remotely or indirectly touches the company, it's a no-go for me.
- amadeuspagel 3y agoI would have thought that from a GDPR perspective, requiring a VPN is enough. What's next, Meta has to prevent europeans who are currently in the US from accessing threads?
- tzs 3y ago> What's next, Meta has to prevent europeans who are currently in the US from accessing threads? Here's what GDPR says it covers [1]: 1. In the case of processors or controllers established in the Union, all processing of personal data. 2. In the case of processors of controllers not established in the Union processing activities related to 2(A) the offering of goods or services to data subjects in the Union, or 2(B) monitoring to the behavior of data subjects as far as that behavior takes place in the Union. If you are not in the Union and the entity processing your data is not established in the Union then GDPR does not apply. [1] https://gdpr-info.eu/art-3-gdpr/ https://gdpr-info.eu/art-3-gdpr/