Why Facebook's desire to leave Europe reveals a fragility

André Loesekrug-Pietri 12:01 p.m., February 08, 2022

EDITORIAL

American big techs that are not so invulnerable.

Facebook co-founder turned Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, announced a few days ago that he could close Facebook and Instagram in Europe because the company opposes new laws more protective of the personal data of European Internet users.

According to the editorialist André Loesekrug-Pietri, this threat is blackmail and shows how these platforms have taken on a weight equivalent to that of certain States.

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The leaders of Facebook are transforming into Meta, because they are preparing for the arrival in the Metaverse, this famous virtual reality.

One of their historical investors, Peter Thiel, a supporter of Donald Trump, has just left the board of directors.

Perhaps a more important element: since last Thursday, the stock market has been down 30%, unheard of in history.

Facebook lost nearly $270 billion.

A decade of advertising profitability

Why this collapse?

In reality, we are seeing tectonic plates moving.

There is much lower growth.

What these results hide is a battle of titans between the various tech giants.

In the 2000s, all applications, like those on our phones, had a cookie, called Udid, which allowed each of these giants to track the movements of users.

In 2012, Apple decided to make this operation optional, but active by default.

This was long before the European GDPR regulation in 2018. For almost ten years, we lived with the fact that each of us was being tracked.

The immediate consequences were that 70% of ad spend went to the three tech giants: Amazon, Google and Facebook.

This explains their success.

Why the Capitol Storming Was a Turning Point

The political turning point may lie in the assault on the Capitol in Washington, United States, which starkly exposed the role of social networks, and in particular Facebook, in this crisis.

Each of the giants now plays its part.

Most of them came out of pure ad spend.

But Facebook is exposed because, precisely, it is still essentially on this advertising model.

In January 2021, Apple boss Tim Cook made a political speech saying that "social media can lead to societal catastrophe".

The Apple boss questioned the model that the more users are active, especially in the face of violent or conspiratorial content, the more advertising they report.

The thunderclap happened ten months ago: tracking must now be decided voluntarily on Apple brand devices.

Most users therefore decided not to activate it.

Apple also serves its interests.

The company wants to be virtuous when it comes to respecting privacy.

Facebook is trying to counterattack by saying that it will mainly affect SMEs, that advertising investments will again become untargeted, and that this will lead to a lot of loss of money.

"The French, the Europeans must create the world of the future"

There are mainly two setbacks for Facebook.

We must not overestimate the regulatory power of Europe, which is totally a spectator on this subject.

What is striking is that these giants have a greater impact today than most states on the lives of all of us.

The second lesson is perhaps a call.

The French, the Europeans must create the future world.

"Everything is going badly, but my center gives way, my right is retreating. The situation is excellent. I am attacking", said a famous phrase from Marshal Foch.