Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg breezed through Dublin on Tuesday, pressing the point for regulation of the internet in a bid to deal with harmful content online. Facebook would continue to exercise huge control in the market while start-up rivals could find it difficult to operate under the weight of any new regulation. Alas, he wasn’t able to meet with Helen Dixon, head of the Data Protection Commission and de facto regulator for Facebook’s European operations since the passage last year of new EU-wide privacy rules, the General Data Protection Regulation, better known to us as GDPR. It is worth remembering that the DPC has 10 inquiries currently under way into Facebook and its WhatsApp and Instagram units. Just not on Facebook’s terms.

Source: The Irish Times April 04, 2019 05:26 UTC