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| The EU is losing patience with Facebook (AFP Photo/Lionel BONAVENTURE) |
Brussels (AFP) - The EU warned social network Facebook on Thursday to bring its allegedly "misleading" consumer terms of service in line with the bloc's rules by the end of the year or to risk financial penalties.
"My
patience has reached its limit," EU Justice and Consumer Affairs
Commissioner Vera Jourova said in a statement. "It is now time for action
and no more promises."
Jourova
said she would call on consumer protection authorities across the 28-country
bloc, which requested the changes last year, to act swiftly and sanction the
company if Facebook failed to comply.
"While
Facebook assured me" it would "finally adapt any remaining misleading
terms of services by December, this has been ongoing for too long," she
said.
The
Commission said that proposals made by the Mark Zuckerberg-led company were
"very limited", even after the company changed its conditions earlier
this year.
These new
terms of services "contain a misleading presentation of the main
characteristics of Facebook's services", the Commission said.
A
spokesperson for the social media giant defended the changes and said they were
"much clearer on what is and what isn't allowed on Facebook and on the
options people have."
Facebook
"will continue our close cooperation to understand any further concerns
and make appropriate updates."
Under the
microscope
The
Commission, meanwhile, said that rent-a-room behemoth Airbnb has made the
necessary changes to its consumer terms after also being under fire in
Brussels.
The bloc's
executive arm has been at the forefront of a regulatory crackdown on US tech
giants, having also slammed Google with huge anti-trust fines.
The
Commission has been cracking down on what is sees as risks for European
consumers using the services of US internet giants like Facebook, Google,
Amazon, Uber and others.
Facebook
also came under the microscope after this year's Cambridge Analytica scandal in
which the company admitted that up to 87 million users may have had their data
hijacked.
The scandal
was the worst public relations disaster Facebook has faced since its launch in
2004.
The
European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) firmly backed the Commission's stand
against Facebook.
"When
a company doesn't do what the law says, there should be serious and deterrent
sanctions," said the group's Augusta Maciuleviciute.
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