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Facebook CEO speaks to select members of European Parliament

politico.eu

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Re: Facebook CEO speaks to select members of European Parliament

#61

Post by SeanMacConMara »

repolfx wrote: post #43
KenanSulayman wrote: post #41

I was very surprised and suddenly pulled back into a feeling of tangible hope when around the end of the plenary session a French / Belgian member of the parliament went mad about unanswered questions. He said: " ... There are a number of questions that have been put by other colleagues that I want an answer to. That said, I'm anxious about this brave new world that Mr. Zuckerberg has presented us -- a brave new worl…

That's Verhofstadt, the head of the EU Parliament. I don't know what gave you hope about that. It's mafia tactics and confirms the worst suspicions people have had about EU anti-trust enforcement. What does privacy rules have to do with monopoly or anti-trust? As far as I can tell, nothing. But the EU appears dangerously close to taking an official policy that anti-trust fines are based on whether Guy Verhofstadt and…

>What does privacy rules have to do with monopoly or anti-trust?

They are becoming related.

Monopoly laws traditionally apply to commercial transactions. Facebook's customers are not experiencing a monopoly, they can easily switch to other ad-space vendors.

Many of Facebook's "crop" however happen to be voters who feel new laws are required to deal with Facebook's "network monopoly" especially as it is entirely arbitrary, harmful and very profitable.

Privacy aka legal ownership and control of data is one way to erode that "network monopoly".

Re: Facebook CEO speaks to select members of European Parliament

#62

Post by SeanMacConMara »

shakna wrote: post #58
adventured wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can't. They can attempt to block access to the EU market in a situation where they require a break-up of Facebook and Facebook refuses to comply. It would require the EU to implement a draconian Chinese firewall to bring into full effect. The EU is 250m of Facebook's 2.2 billion users. They could easily drop all EU business if they needed to (the business operations within the EU is the easiest aspect for the EU…

If userbase was their only concern, Facebook would likely not have responded to the EU Parliament's request for interview. Facebook is still registered in Ireland, since 2010, which is still in the EU, making Facebook an entity subject to them. (Ireland has also expressed a desire to rejoin the EU, post-Brexit).

The sovereign state called "The Republic of Ireland" is not leaving the EU as part of Brexit.

The sovereign state called "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" is leaving the EU as part of Brexit.

Re: Facebook CEO speaks to select members of European Parliament

#63

Post by jacquesm »

mseebach wrote: post #9
QueensGambit wrote: post #3

I have a controversial view, correct me if I am wrong. I think democracy has a major flaw, because, most people are selfish/unfair and most likely vote for populist leaders. But, it has been so far saved by media because of the elitist journalists who want the world to be a fair place and were able to convince people to reject populist leaders. With social media, these journalists are bypassed and the populist leader…

The mechanism you're describing also made the non-populist politicians complacent, they forgot (if they ever learned) how to articulate why their way is actually better. See for an example the completely anemic campaigns fought by Hillary Clinton and the remain side in the brexit referendum. Those should not have been hard battles to fight.

Oh those battles were won hands down. It's just that if the other side will switch to outright dishonesty that it gets a lot harder to get the voters to know what's going on.

Re: Facebook CEO speaks to select members of European Parliament

#64

Post by zerostar07 »

KenanSulayman wrote: post #41

I was very surprised and suddenly pulled back into a feeling of tangible hope when around the end of the plenary session a French / Belgian member of the parliament went mad about unanswered questions. He said: " ... There are a number of questions that have been put by other colleagues that I want an answer to. That said, I'm anxious about this brave new world that Mr. Zuckerberg has presented us -- a brave new worl…

verhofstad is ok but tends to go on hyperbolic tangents

Re: Facebook CEO speaks to select members of European Parliament

#65

Post by mayniac »

adventured wrote: post #49
zerostar07 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can the EU break up foreign monopolies?

They can't. They can attempt to block access to the EU market in a situation where they require a break-up of Facebook and Facebook refuses to comply. It would require the EU to implement a draconian Chinese firewall to bring into full effect. The EU is 250m of Facebook's 2.2 billion users. They could easily drop all EU business if they needed to (the business operations within the EU is the easiest aspect for the EU…

>It would require the EU to implement a draconian Chinese firewall to bring into full effect.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countries_blocking_access_to_T...

Quite a few countries in the EU have already ordered ISPs to block The Pirate Bay, and the EU last year made it easier for ISPs to do so. So the capability is there, and there's precedent. TPB responded by decentralising but that isn't an option for Facebook, they wouldn't dare to anything to get round a continental ban: and even if they did it would have to be 100% effective, if 50% of people can't figure out how to change DNS settings to get around ISP blocks then the other 50% will likely migrate to another platform too.

I said to a friend a few weeks ago that I actually want to see FB get blocked in Europe. The shitshow would be glorious.

Re: Facebook CEO speaks to select members of European Parliament

#66

Post by zerostar07 »

DavideNL wrote: post #4

The hearing was a big joke. Zuckerberg simply avoided answering difficult questions by talking about something else entirely...

Yeah he made no effort to appease the audience or answer any pointed question. He rushed to leave, while during his US hearings he offered to stay longer a number of times. I think he was agitated by the questions in the end, even though he knows he ll probably face more regulation in europe.

It might be the case that he has already discounted that possibility and simply doesn't care if EU wants to ban facebook anymore.

Re: Facebook CEO speaks to select members of European Parliament

#67

Post by zerostar07 »

mayniac wrote: post #65
adventured wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can't. They can attempt to block access to the EU market in a situation where they require a break-up of Facebook and Facebook refuses to comply. It would require the EU to implement a draconian Chinese firewall to bring into full effect. The EU is 250m of Facebook's 2.2 billion users. They could easily drop all EU business if they needed to (the business operations within the EU is the easiest aspect for the EU…

>It would require the EU to implement a draconian Chinese firewall to bring into full effect. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countries_blocking_access_to_T... Quite a few countries in the EU have already ordered ISPs to block The Pirate Bay, and the EU last year made it easier for ISPs to do so. So the capability is there, and there's precedent. TPB responded by decentralising but that isn't an option for Facebook, th…

> The shitshow would be glorious.

At which point does the shit show turn around and reflect bad on the EU though? I m no fan or user of facebook but it would be too serious a restriction that only dictators have taken so far. EU's problems with facebook so far are taxation and privacy. The second is presumably solved by GDPR. Even if the first one is solved somehow, i feel these MEPs were more concerned about political implications.

Re: Facebook CEO speaks to select members of European Parliament

#68

Post by zerostar07 »

shakna wrote: post #58
adventured wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can't. They can attempt to block access to the EU market in a situation where they require a break-up of Facebook and Facebook refuses to comply. It would require the EU to implement a draconian Chinese firewall to bring into full effect. The EU is 250m of Facebook's 2.2 billion users. They could easily drop all EU business if they needed to (the business operations within the EU is the easiest aspect for the EU…

If userbase was their only concern, Facebook would likely not have responded to the EU Parliament's request for interview. Facebook is still registered in Ireland, since 2010, which is still in the EU, making Facebook an entity subject to them. (Ireland has also expressed a desire to rejoin the EU, post-Brexit).

Ireland is not leaving the EU. Maybe you 're referring to northern ireland, but facebook is not there.

Re: Facebook CEO speaks to select members of European Parliament

#69

Post by zerostar07 »

bogomipz wrote: post #35
cpeterso wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt many US politicians or citizens are concerned enough about Facebook to take any meaningful action. A bill like the EU's GDPR would not even get a vote in the US congress.

>"I doubt many US politicians or citizens are concerned enough about Facebook to take any meaningful action." You might want to re-read my comment where I say there is no political will on account of lobbying and money. US Citizens are just as concerned as EU citizens about FB. Especially given FB's role in the last US Presidential elections. What is your justification for asserting that US citizens are not as concer…

> What is your justification for asserting that US citizens are not as concerned as EU citizens?

If a significant amount of them cared it would be reflected in the user numbers.

Re: Facebook CEO speaks to select members of European Parliament

#70

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

SeanMacConMara wrote: post #62
shakna wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If userbase was their only concern, Facebook would likely not have responded to the EU Parliament's request for interview. Facebook is still registered in Ireland, since 2010, which is still in the EU, making Facebook an entity subject to them. (Ireland has also expressed a desire to rejoin the EU, post-Brexit).

The sovereign state called "The Republic of Ireland" is not leaving the EU as part of Brexit. The sovereign state called "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" is leaving the EU as part of Brexit.

The sovereign state named Eire, technically.
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