EU versus Facebook: Will Weber take a hammer to Facebook’s social media monopoly? – by Samuel Stolton

 Dumb fucks.” That’s how Mark Zuckerberg described users of Facebook for trusting him with their personal data back in 2004. If the last week is anything to go by, he was right.

Manfred Weber, the head of the EPP group in the European Parliament and lead candidate for Jean-Claude Juncker’s job as the next European Commission president, threw down the gauntlet on Friday (28 September), suggesting that he may support a breakup of Facebook and Whatsapp.

“I consider it necessary to ask the monopoly question,” Weber told the German newspaper Spiegel. Weber announced his candidacy for the top EU job in early September and has also received backing from German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“The European Commission should consider whether, for example, after the acquisition of Whatsapp and Instagram, Facebook has a dominant position. In extreme cases, a breakup should also be conceivable,” he said.

Weber also noted that Facebook will continue to be under close scrutiny from the European Parliament, and called on the internet giant to be more transparent in its advertising activities.

The EU’s Justice Commissioner Věra Jourová has put pressure on Facebook to disclose further details of the massive security breach that impacted around fifty million users last week.

In a statement on Sunday (30 September), Jourová urged Facebook to comply fully with the body in charge of investigating the breach, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, and disclose whether EU users were affected by the breach and how their personal data was impacted.

At least 50mln #Facebook users were compromised in the huge security breach. I urge Facebook to fully cooperate with @DPCIreland. We need to know if EU users were affected and what had happened to their data. Here a reminder about the obligations of biz https://t.co/1bZ6IJdJ4B

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission struck a similar tone on Sunday when they announced that they are still waiting for “further urgent details” of the security breach…[to]…properly assess the nature of the breach and risk to users.”

Facebook said on Friday (28 September) that hackers had discovered a security flaw allowing them to capture data belonging to up to 50 million Facebook users.

According to the New York Times, Facebook’s VP for product management, Guy Rosen, has refused to rule out the possibility that the attack may have been coordinated by a nation-state.

Rosen has stated that the hackers were targeting people’s private information, including name, gender and location.

Due to the lack of disclosure given on the specifics of the hack thus far by Facebook, it currently remains unclear as to whether more sensitive information has been accessed.

Read more: Will Weber take a hammer to Facebook’s social media monopoly? – EURACTIV.com