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Facebook to move UK users to California terms
Updated / Wednesday, 16 Dec 2020
08:05
Facebook is moving its UK users them out of their current relationship with Facebook s Irish unit
Facebook will shift all its users in the UK into user agreements with the corporate headquarters in California, moving them out of their current relationship with Facebook s Irish unit and out of reach of Europe s privacy laws.
The change takes effect next year and follows a similar move announced in February by Google.
Those companies and others have European head offices in Dublin, and the UK s exit from the EU will change its legal relationship with Ireland, which remains in the European Union.
Facebook UK users will lose EU privacy protections in 2021. (JPI Media) Facebook will switch all United Kingdom account holders into user agreements with the firm s corporate headquarters in California, steering them clear of EU privacy laws. The current relationship with Facebook s Irish unit will end next year as the UK leaves the European Union (EU) at the end of the Brexit transition period. Facebook has said that the move will not change the privacy controls of UK users, or the services they are offered. Changes after Brexit UK users are currently governed by agreements with Facebook’s headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, but the legal relationship will change after the Brexit transition period comes to an end at the end of this year.
Facebook UK users will lose EU privacy protections in 2021. (JPI Media) FACEBOOK will switch all United Kingdom account holders into user agreements with the firm s corporate headquarters in California, steering them clear of EU privacy laws. The current relationship with Facebook s Irish unit will end next year as the UK leaves the European Union (EU) at the end of the Brexit transition period. Facebook has said that the move will not change the privacy controls of UK users, or the services they are offered. Changes after Brexit UK users are currently governed by agreements with Facebook’s headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, but the legal relationship will change after the Brexit transition period comes to an end at the end of this year.
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As Brits wake up to Brexit next month, most will no longer find themselves stuck on an island in the Atlantic but ensconced in sunny California, courtesy of Facebook.
The social media giant has decided that, legally speaking, it makes much more sense for UK residents to stop officially residing in Europe and will pile all British Facebook souls onto a boat and ship ‘em to the Golden State, as it has with others in the world.
Why? Privacy, of course. European citizens are covered by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which prevents Facebook from gathering and selling their personal information without explicit permission. But Facebook loves selling people’s personal data – so much in fact it has built the entire company’s business model around it. And so, you leave Europe, you end up in California.