Facebook
has recognized that it does not have an "adequate" level of control over how its systems use the data of its millions of users around the world and, therefore, is unable to adhere with complete confidence to the "tsunami" of regulatory changes that are coming. have been implemented in regions such as the
European Union
(EU) and countries such as
India
or
South Korea
.
Companies that base part of their activity on the manipulation of user data, such as
, have been forced in recent years to face regulatory changes in privacy imposed by some regions.
In an internal company document obtained by
Motherboard
, the technology arm of Vice, privacy engineers at
acknowledge not having "an adequate level of control" and understanding of how their systems use their users' data.
The engineers of the social network explain that they have built
systems "with open barriers"
.
The result of this is described with an analogy:
an ink bottle
.
This object represents a mixture of all types of data from its users (own data, third-party data, data considered especially sensitive, European data...).
If that bottle of ink is poured into a lake, which would represent Facebook
's "open" systems
, data flows "everywhere."
Next, the engineers wonder how that ink can be re-bottled.
This situation
prevents the social network from adhering with complete confidence to policy changes
and external commitments, such as deciding that they will stop using specific data for a specific purpose.
However, this is something that is expected of the company which increases "the risk of problems and misrepresentations".
Facebook
acknowledges that it is facing a "fundamental" problem in the document,
dated 2021
, when facing what it calls a "tsunami" of regulations on user privacy around the world, such as the creation in 2018 of the GDPR (
General Data Protection Regulation
) in Europe.
The social network believes that an additional investment is appropriate both in its Ads team and in those in charge of its infrastructure to face these challenges after being "surprised" by the regulatory changes introduced in 2021 both in the
EU
and in countries such as India, South Korea , Thailand, Egypt or South Africa, which will restrict the use of their own data.
This economic injection is planned to be distributed over several years and its objective is to allow the social network to regain control over how its systems ingest and process data.
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