this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2023
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Norway to fine Meta $98,500 a day over user privacy breach from 14 August (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 1 year ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Norway to fine Meta $98,500 a day over user privacy breach from 14 August::Country’s data protection regulator said firm cannot harvest user information such as physical locations for showing targeted ads

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[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 46 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Facebook owner Meta Platforms will be fined 1m crowns ($98,500) a day over privacy breaches from 14 August, Norway’s data protection authority told Reuters on Monday, a decision that could have wider European implications.

“As of next Monday, a daily fine of 1 million crown will start to apply,” Tobias Judin, head of Datatilsynet’s international section told Reuters.

Meta last week said it intends to ask users in the European Union for their consent before allowing businesses to target advertising based on what they view on its services such as Facebook and Instagram.

Meta had to stop the processing of personal data immediately and until that consent mechanism was up and running.

“According to Meta, this will take several months, at the very earliest, for them to implement ... And we don’t know what the consent mechanism will look like,” Judin said.

Meta said the change was made to address regulatory requirements in the region and stems from an order in January by Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner, Meta’s lead EU regulator, to reassess the legal basis on how it targets ads.

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[–] slampisko@czech-lemmy.eu 26 points 1 year ago

Giga-based Norway

[–] Countmacula@lemm.ee 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A good start but still nothing for them :/

[–] GoodEye8@lemm.ee 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Well yeah, that by itself is pocket change for FB. If fined for the full duration that's just short of $800k total. But the interesting part is this:

Datatilsynet can make it permanent by referring its decision to the European Data Protection Board, which has the power to do so, if it agrees with the Norwegian regulator’s decision.

That could also widen the decision’s territorial scope to the rest of Europe. Datatilsynet had yet to take this step.

If made permanent and expanded to the rest of Europe, which probably also means a significantly higher fine, then that is bound to become a thorn in their side.

[–] Ultra980@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago

Gigachad Norway

[–] LemmyNameMyself@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

So basically, they are fined nothing (100k is less than a millionth of Meta's net worth)

[–] slipperydippery@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago

I wonder if 100k per day is more or less than the average daily profits they make in Norway (population 5.4 million people)

[–] SloppyPuppy@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Ill run red lights all day if i get fined 1 cent a day too

[–] PlexSheep@feddit.de 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's only 3,64€ per year. You'd be fine.

[–] SloppyPuppy@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Worth it. Can I also get fined a millionth of what I make for illegal parking? Ill take that as well

[–] Steeve@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wait, if they can't get physical location under this regulation, how would they even opt Norwegian users out? If they're making it impossible to comply why not just go ahead and ban Meta products.

[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Guess they have to stop collecting user location at all.

Or maybe just use IP address as a proxy for location. I assume that's still allowed (and if it's not, then I'm afraid I have to side with Meta on this one…as gross as it feels to say that…)

[–] Steeve@lemmy.ca -3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The Norwegian market is way too small to be making those demands worldwide lol. And I don't see the EU joining in any time soon, tech has been a gold mine for them since the GDPR.

Edit: Not sure why everyone's so worked about realism. If you think Norway is going to stop targeted advertising worldwide then I've got a bridge to sell you.

[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They don't have to "make those demands". They just need to keep fining the company if it fails to comply with the law in its own region.

Meta can probably figure out a solution that complies, but if they can't, then they have to decide whether to just suck up the fine, or address it worldwide.

[–] Steeve@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You missed a scenario though, ignore the fine and let Norway kick you out. Could probably even spin it that Norwegian regulators refused to work with them.

[–] magnor@lemmy.magnor.ovh 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well at least Norway is standing up for their people. That is more than most governments are doing lately.

[–] Steeve@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They're trying, I'll give em that, but we're seeing more and more that tech regulators can't keep up with changing tech. We're just starting to tackle data privacy and now we've got the whole new problem space of generative AI. There needs to be actual investment in fast, informed regulation.

And honestly, "turn off targeted advertising" isn't a reasonable demand for most countries, because, as much as everyone hates on it here, small business rely on targeted advertising and "go compete with Walmart for the same ad space" would suck for most economies.

[–] magnor@lemmy.magnor.ovh 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I wholeheartedly agree with your first point. The second however does baffle me slightly. I'm not from Norway but I would not bet their small businesses are that reliant on targeted ad. But I could very much be wrong.

Actually I'm not sur I understand why targeted ads, in the way Facebook is implementing them anyway, is that beneficial to small businesses. Bigger outfits have the means to litterally crush the small ones in this arena too.

[–] Steeve@lemmy.ca 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm Canadian, but our small businesses are definitely very reliant on targeted advertising. Anecdotally, I know a few people with their own businesses that will only use Google or Facebook targeted advertising, because it's cheap and they get a better return on ad spend since they can target a local subpopulation.

Bigger outfits have the means to litterally crush the small ones in this arena too.

It doesn't actually work that way, at least not entirely. Platforms don't necessarily show the ad with the highest bid, they also take into account relevance to the user, so Walmart can't just swoop in and take all the ad spots. Even if they could, platforms don't charge unless the ad was shown (or clicked in some cases), so worst case scenario small businesses just wouldn't have their account's ad dollars spent. This definitely isn't the case though, because 70% of small businesses advertiser on social media.

There are additional studies that show this as well. I'll try to find some that aren't funded by Facebook or Google, so far this one is pretty interesting:

https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.09035

[–] magnor@lemmy.magnor.ovh 2 points 1 year ago

I stand corrected then, thank you very much for the time and effort this post took. This is clearly an outlook I lacked.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

I'm guessing they view that as the cost of doing business in Norway.