At its plenary session in Strasbourg on Wednesday 18 April, the Parliament sent a clear message to the CEO of the American social media giant, Facebook, requesting him to come, in person, to shed light on the 2.7 million Europeans whose personal data are said to have been harvested by the company Cambridge Analytica.
After several calls along these lines, the European Parliament is beginning to lose patience. The call was reiterated in a letter sent that same day to Mark Zuckerberg by the president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, and placed on line on his Twitter account.
“All political groups insist that your personal presence is absolutely necessary, as it was before the Congress of the United States”, it states. According to the letter, Zuckerberg has suggested that Facebook’s vice-president for global public policy, Joel Kaplan, should represent him.
The vice-minister of the Bulgarian presidency of the Council of the EU, Monika Panayotova, underlined that the concerns expressed by Europeans had been taken up in the conclusions adopted in March by the heads of state and government. The subject will also be on the agenda of their informal meeting in Sofia on 16 May, she announced. “Today’s debate shows that the EU is concerned at political level”, she added.
“We must not be sympathetic towards Facebook”, said Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova, especially since according to information available to her, other applications on the social network could very well have picked up personal data.
The EU wants answers. That is the message it gave out last week to the group’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, and relayed yesterday by the European commissioner for the digital single market, Andrus Ansip, during his meeting with Zuckerberg, she said.
Social media and politics. More generally, this scandal calls for in depth reflection on the link between social media and politics. MEPs acknowledged that social media had generated unprecedented possibilities for direct dialogue with millions of voters.
Nonetheless, whereas the traditional media are subject to extremely strict regulations, the social media work without limits, the commissioner pointed out. That is one of the reasons for which the Commission convened a meeting of national electoral commissions in Brussels on 25 April (see EUROPE 11998) in order to “take the pulse” of measures in place within member states to face these new challenges.
The commercial model of Facebook and its monopoly on the market were also brought into question. “It is worrying that a tool may be as predominant on the market. But we also know that this is a good way to remain in contact with one’s friends (...). That is why we remain on Facebook despite the leaks (...). Facebook has become a necessity for many people in Europe”, said Ska Keller of Germany, who is co-president of the Greens/EFA Group.
“Marketing which is based on stolen or illegal data must be punished”, Jourova said firmly. In her view, it will also be of interest to see the reaction of Europeans, if other revelations are made. “Will Europeans raise their voices to say they do not want to be just manipulated objects?”, she asked.
In this scandal, everyone has a responsibility, whether it be Cambridge Analytica, Facebook, and also the users themselves, MEPs said.
Sophie in’t Veld (ALDE, Netherlands), for her part, called for the Parliament itself to look inward. “We do a lot of talking but at the end of the day do we do anything? We are outraged about Facebook but some of us have still refused to support the stricter regulations on data protection, including the president of the Parliament”, she stated.
MEPs also seized the opportunity to launch a plea to member states concerning the blocking of the “e-privacy” dossier. “The Bulgarian presidency has clearly undertaken to take forward the Council’s negotiating position”, Panayotova said, albeit underlining the complex nature of the issue.
Compliance with the GDPR. Is it purely coincidence or yet another communication scoop by the company? On Tuesday, Facebook announced in a press release that it would this week begin to propose new parameters of confidentiality to its European users in order to come into line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
“Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg, the GDPR is now the most well-known legislation. It is even known at the American Congress”, Sophie in’t Veld said ironically. “I am fully confident that Facebook will correct its direction and respect the new legislation on data protection”, said Commissioner Jourova.
“Everyone – no matter where they live – will be asked to review important information about how Facebook uses data and make choices about their privacy on Facebook”, we read.
In practical terms, users may henceforth clearly indicate their choices in terms of advertising that they want to receive or indicate whether they wish to continue sharing certain information such as their political opinions or religion.
The US giant still has a great deal of work to do to restore user confidence and have such strict rules applied, just one month after entry into force of the GDPR and under the attentive eye of the Europeans. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)