2022-02-08
Facebook is facing scrutiny from a GDPR perspective. When being party to a legal process like that they have to disclose any and all possible impacts on their business to shareholders.
They made such a statement, where one of the worst case scenarios (from their perspective) is that they would be unable to continue operating their business within the EU.
It’s not in any way a threat. It’s a thorough analysis of possible consequences. The EU market is worth something like $21 Billion to them. The EU couldn’t give a rat’s ass about whether they operate here or not. It’s not like they pay their fair share of tax, and they’re and endless judicial headache. Not to mention the damage they cause to democratic processes.
That said I hope the verdict is the strictest possible. I hope that real time bidding for ad space is decided to be unlawful (by any reasonable interpretation it should be). I hope that data collection, analysis, and the finegrained targeting they can do is ruled as illegal. It would certainly mark a new era for the web experience.
-- CC0 Björn Wärmedal