(VitalNews.org) – The Dutch government has just announced that they may stop using Facebook after a report from the Netherlands warned of privacy concerns regarding Meta. The Dutch Data Protection Authority issued a statement telling the Dutch Interior Ministry not to use Facebook to communicate with people if they don’t have a full understanding of how Facebook uses people’s personal data.
Alexandra van Huffelen, the Dutch Minister for Digitalization put out a statement to Meta about their concerns. “The government wants clarity from Meta as soon as possible, at the latest before the summer recess, on how they are addressing our concerns,” the Minister said. She continued, “Otherwise, in line with the advice of the DPA, we will be forced to stop our activities on Facebook pages.”
The particular privacy issue they are looking into is when people visit a government official’s Facebook page and how Meta uses that data compiled from visitors.
Said Aleid Wolfsen, the Dutch DPA’s chairman,“The fact that this can also involve information about children and young people makes this even more important. They are vulnerable online and need extra protection.”
“We review all Meta products to ensure they comply with laws in the regions in which we offer our services, and will continue to engage with the Government to ensure they can use social media to communicate with people,” a Meta spokesperson said in response.
According to an AI, tech, and privacy partner at the Cripps law firm, Matthew Holman, the main concern for the Dutch regulator’s is that data taken from users “is shared with government departments on Meta’s platform and could still be subject to security issues, monitoring or access by US federal agencies.”
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