Facebook Says GDPR Will Benefit Everyone, Not Just Europeans

The General Data Protection Regulation that’s set go to into effect in the European Union in a matter of weeks will benefit the privacy of all Facebook users, not just those on the Old Continent, the company’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday as part of a Q&A session with journalist held in the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica controversy. The entrepreneur said he was surprised to see this week’s story about Facebook not looking to implement privacy safeguards mandated by the GDPR on a global level, having said that the firm sees the new legislation as a “very positive” thing and one after which it plans to model improved digital privacy protections for all of its users, regardless of where they’re located.

While Facebook is unlikely to use the “same format” across the world, the company is now looking into ways to adopt the spirit of the GDPR globally with respect to laws and other applicable regulations in particular countries, Mr. Zuckerberg said. Regarding privacy controls and settings Facebook users will have access to, those will be the same everywhere, the CEO confirmed. Nobody has been fired over the Cambridge Analytica controversy as that ordeal is a collective mistake and not something anyone will be “thrown under the bus” for, the multi-billionaire said, having added that he still believes he’s the best person to run the company and has no intentions to step down, nor is he aware of anyone on Facebook’s board thinking otherwise. Mr. Zuckerberg also dismissed the notion of the social media giant selling user data to advertisers, having labeled that possibility as something that “goes counter to our own incentives [as a company].”

Regardless, Facebook can and will do a better job at informing users of how their data is handled and what kind of things the firm knows about them in the first place, the CEO said. Mr. Zuckerberg will testify in front of U.S. Congress on the recent data privacy scandal that affected up to 87 million Facebook users in 2014 on Wednesday, April 11. The issue is presently being investigated by Washington and a number of other regulators in Australia, Europe, and other territories.