EU Passes Major Privacy Law: Less Data for Meta, More Control for Users

📆This Week’s Topic

This week, we are going to talk about European technology laws. For a long time, the EU has been aggressively regulating the tech and AI industries to ensure transparency. The EU has been doing this for quite some time, and after some drifting support from citizens, the EU came back with a new law that Europeans actually support. The law states that Meta is required to let EU users to share less data with Meta’s platform in exchange for less personalized ads.

💳 Cause & Effect

European citizens wanted politicians to ease off the aggressive European tech standards that had been in operation for decades. They wanted to make it easier for AI, tech, and search engine companies to operate without the significant hurdles set by the EU. For example, if you try to use Google, you are prompted to read and accept Google’s search policy every time, which results in a lot of frustration because you can't use Google without doing so. Authorities have levied billions in fines on Amazon, Google, and others for breaches of contract and other antitrust lawsuits. However, despite significant pressure to reduce these intense regulations, Europe decided to introduce a new law minimizing data sharing.

📊 History Of Data Sharing

In 2004, Facebook was founded. It marked one of the first social media platforms ever created and it became a huge success. But, as we know now these platforms are taking a lot of our consumer data. This is not just for Facebook though, it is for Instagram, X, and almost every other social media platform uses data sharing for targeted ads. But the new law that was just signed in the EU stated that in April of next year, Meta will be offering a option to provide less information to that platform in exchange for less personalized ads. It’s not just Meta, X just got sued last week for $140 million for breaking a major law. This rampant age of data sharing makes these laws very important.

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🔚 Outcome

The outcome of this law is that it is paving the way for the future of digital privacy. This law marks the beginning of an era where digital privacy is more challenging to secure. Regulators are hopefully going to start implementing more rules about the information social media platforms collect from us. This also means that for those of you who live in the EU, you will be sending a little less information to Meta when you use Facebook or Instagram, despite European politicians fighting against aggressive EU regulation. Another thing to note is that this law will allow Europeans to be the first people to share less data with Meta. This law opposes the narrative of "sign the terms or pay," which entails paying for ad-free content or giving your personal information away. This narrative has been the way it was every since the mid 2010s.

⏳ Final Summary

In summary, the EU has just passed a law that allows Meta (Facebook & Instagram) to offer European users the option to send less personal information in exchange for less personalized ads. This reflects a new era of increased demand for data privacy, which is important to many people. Additionally, Europeans will be the first to use a social media platform with the option to provide less data. Although politicians in Europe are generally against heavy restrictions, this law received more support than previous ones because it is more convenient than some earlier laws.

🙏Thank You & Important Information

Anyway, thank you so much for reading this edition of Friday Finance and I am so thankful for the amount of support I have gotten. If you enjoyed this article, please subscribe, and have a great day. This is also a thank you because this article is actually our 50th article published. Thank you to all for reading and see you next week.

Best,

Jacob Gans

Friday Finance