Facebook Dating was scheduled for today, on the eve of Valentine’s Day. An audit by the Irish privacy authority blocked everything. The social headquarters in the old continent is in Dublin
ROME – Hold on, there’s a check. Facebook has decided to postpone the launch of its appointment app in Europe after a surprise inspection by officials of the Irish government’s Privacy Authority. The news comes from a spokesman for the social in blue. The launch of Facebook dating was scheduled for today, on the eve of Valentine’s Day. “It will take a little more time to make sure the product is ready for the European market,” a spokesman for the company told the France Presse Agency. “We have worked carefully to respect all the privacy measures and have shared with Idpc – Ireland’s Data Protection Commission – all the required documents”. Currently Facebook dating is active in the United States, South America and Southeast Asia. The European launch should have completed the picture, but there is still a long way to go.
Facebook’s headquarters in Europe is in Dublin, so the inspection falls within the remit of the local privacy authority. “We were very concerned about the launch of the new service,” Idps said in a note. This concern was exacerbated by the delay in Facebook responding to the authority’s requests: “No documentation has been provided to us since our request of 3 February last, when we asked the company about the impact of data protection,” the note continues. Hence the decision to conduct an inspection of Facebook’s offices in the Irish capital.
Today, social media and internet companies are required to undergo a data protection impact assessment if they want to operate in Europe. This is provided for in the General Data Protection Regulation (Gdpr) which entered into force in the EU in 2018. A spokeswoman for the Data Protection Commission said this was the first inspection of a technology company by the Irish authorities under the BoP rules. For tax reasons, several US technology companies have their European headquarters in Dublin: in addition to Facebook there are, to name a few, Apple, Microsoft, Twitter, Saleforce and Aibnb.
