Facebook is trying to limit the number of users who will be protected by Europe's tough new data , according to Reuters.
Outside of the US and Canada, other Facebook users agree to the terms and conditions set by Facebook Ireland.
Thus, under the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which is set to come into effect on May 25, even users outside the EU have the right to have their data protected by this law.
But now Facebook is trying to ensure that GDPR will only apply to European users next month, excluding 1.5 billion users in Australia, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
Facebook is trying to limit its liability under the GDPR, which imposes huge fines for non-compliance. For more serious violations, such as using data without proper consent, fines can reach up to 4% of a company's annual turnover or €20 million.
new privacy are being rolled out to EU users for the first time, before the rest of the world, giving them the ability to control the type of data they share with Facebook and choose whether they want to allow facial recognition.
As part of the process, users are also asked to sign an updated service and data policy, which is ostensibly different for European users, given the GDPR.
“While the essence of our data policy is the same globally, EU residents will have access to more specific information, such as how to contact our GDPR data protection officer.”.
So far, the new privacy terms have faced criticism for trying to hide significant changes and using various design tricks and other techniques to ensure that users continue to give data to Facebook.
In a statement to Reuters, a Facebook spokesperson tried to downplay the severity of the changes to its terms of service, saying that “we apply the same privacy protections everywhere, regardless of whether your agreement is with Facebook Inc or Facebook Ireland.”.
