EU urges Facebook and other internet giants to comply with consumer protection laws

EU commissioner in charge of consumer protection, Věra Jourová, during last week’s press conference (Copyright: EC Audiovisual services / Source: European Union , 2018 / Photo: Jennifer Jacquemart)

Last week the European Union raised its voice against Facebook and other tech companies over “misleading” terms and conditions in relation to the bloc’s consumer data protection laws. The EU commissioner in charge of consumer protection, Věra Jourová, flat out warned Facebook Inc. saying she had “run out of patience” with the social network after it failed to update its terms of service for nearly two years. The EU’s watchdog expects the Facebook and other US internet giant such as Twitter to have the proposed changes up and running by the end of this year, warning that there would be a high risk of financial penalties if they failed to do so.

Background

In November 2016, after having received a growing number of complaints from consumers who had been targeted by fraud or scams when using social media websites, EU consumer authorities and organisations sent a letter to Facebook, Twitter and Google+ asking them to address two areas of concern. The letter received the official support of the European Commission and the French consumer protection authority.

On March 16, 2017, EU consumer authorities and the European Commission met with those companies, which committed to finalise “detailed measures on how to comply with the EU regulatory framework”, as declared by the EU back then. Following that meeting, the companies have made certain changes to their terms and conditions, but the Commission and consumer authorities have kept requesting further changes to be actioned with urgency.

Increased efforts

On February 15 this year the European Commission said in an official statement Social media companies needed “to do more to respond to the requests” that were made the previous year in order to comply with EU consumer rules. The changes made by Facebook, Twitter and Google+ to align their terms of services with EU consumer protection rules were published that same day: Google’s proposals appear to be in line with the requests made by consumer authorities, while the EU expressed concerns about Facebook and Twitter.

“Facebook and, more significantly, Twitter, have only partially addressed important issues about their liability and about how users are informed of possible content removal or contract termination”, said the EU statement. “When it comes to the “notice and action procedure” used by consumer protection authorities to report and request the removal of illegal content, the changes by some companies are insufficient”, the document also added. The Commission has then also said it would have monitored, along with the national consumer authorities, the implementation of the promised changes and that it would have also actively used “the notice and action procedure provided by the companies”.

Patience’s over

A few months passed and, after nearly two years of discussions, the European Commission has clearly said it: patience is almost over. European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Věra Jourová, was the one to express this concept, with very clear-cut words: “I will not hide the fact that I am becoming rather impatient because we have been in dialogue with Facebook almost two years”, commissioner Jourová told reporters last Thursday. “Progress is not enough for me, I want to see results”, she also said.

The Financial Times revealed that commissioner Jourová’s warning came after the Commission met Facebook Inc.’s representatives last week. While speaking to reporters during a press conference, the EU commissioner made it clear that US internet giant may face sanctions if it will not fully comply with EU consumer rules. “If we do not see the progress the sanctions will have to come,” she said. “We cannot negotiate for ever, we need to see the results.”, commissioner Jourova also declared.

Airbnb’s actions

On the other hand, the Commission announced that Airbnb, which was also told to bring its user terms in line with EU regulations as well, made the necessary changes after only three months. EU commissioner Jourová has told reporters last week that the popular shared-housing application has committed to distinguishing offers from private hosts and professionals and to providing consumers with the full price of bookings on all its EU language sites, which were the main requests the EU had made to the internet company.

“Following our call in July, Airbnb informed us that it accepted to improve transparency of prices, so the consumers can know upfront about the final price or additional costs like cleaning fees or local taxes”, commissioner Jourova has declared last Thursday. “Airbnb will also make changes to terms and conditions, for instance it will be clear that consumers can use all the legal remedies available and in particular their right to sue a host in case of personal harm or other damage”, commissioner Jourová has also said. “This is good news for consumers who will benefit for instance from more transparency on prices, so they can compare offers upfront”, Reuters has quoted EU sources as saying.

Next steps

The European Commission expects Facebook and Twitter to update their terms of service and to commit to changes by mid-October this year, so they can take effect in December. According to the main international news outlets including Reuters and the Guardian, Facebook said they already have made “a number of changes and would continue to cooperate with the authorities”. “We will continue our close co-operation to understand any further concerns and make appropriate updates”, a Facebook Inc.’s representative has commented last week, according to the Financial Times.