EU Examines Social Media Privacy Issues

Marketers using social media such as Twitter to reach their target audiences should be subject to tighter regulation, according to European regulators quoted in a report in the Financial Times.

The group of European data protection and privacy commissioners, known as the Article 29 Working Party, also argues that Facebook's third-party developers should be subject to EU data protection and privacy rules, even if they are based outside Europe.

Facebook generates income by operating an 'open' Internet platform, which enables developers to create applications for users by mining their personal data.

The views of the Article 29 Working Party, which mark the first attempt to address these platforms, do not carry any formal weight, but could be adopted by individual national regulators.

Marc Rotenberg, Head of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in the US, commented: 'We've been concerned about the growing third-party use of personal information. If nothing else, this will lead to greater accountability.'

Facebook has agreed that the online industry needs a regulatory framework, and now says that companies with services in this area need to assess the working group's views.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.