{"id":153645,"date":"2025-10-30T16:27:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T16:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/153645\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T16:27:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T16:27:08","slug":"data-protection-rules-completely-out-of-control-meta-tells-government-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/153645\/","title":{"rendered":"Data protection rules \u2018completely out of control\u2019, Meta tells Government \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meta<\/a>, the company that owns Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a> and WhatsApp<\/a>, has privately tried to convince the Irish Government to lead a pushback against data protection laws at European Union level, correspondence shows. <\/p>\n

The interpretation by regulators of strict EU<\/a> rules that protect individuals\u2019 data and privacy is \u201ccompletely out of control\u201d, Meta\u2019s chief privacy officer and vice-president Erin Egan told Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan<\/a> in a May 23rd letter. <\/p>\n

The correspondence shows Meta has expanded the scope of its campaign against EU regulations to include the bloc\u2019s General Data Protection Regulation<\/a> (GDPR), which puts greater obligations on big tech multinationals to safeguard the data of people using their platforms or services. <\/p>\n

Europe\u2019s approach to data protection requires a total overhaul, Ms Egan told Mr O\u2019Callaghan in her letter. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that the EU\u2019s data protection and privacy regimes require a fundamental overhaul and that Ireland has a very important and meaningful role to play in achieving this,\u201d she wrote. <\/p>\n

The letter, seen by The Irish Times, said a desire by Brussels to simplify some of the union\u2019s rules and regulations offered \u201ca small window of opportunity, that must not be wasted, to make targeted but meaningful changes\u201d. <\/p>\n

Meta claimed the EU rules, introduced in recent years to put some guardrails on the online sphere and Big Tech<\/a>, were \u201cstifling innovation and creating uncertainty for service providers\u201d. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0EU accuses Meta of failing to police illegal content onlineOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Ms Egan said Meta has been going back and forth with regulators about the company\u2019s plans to train its AI models using public Facebook and Instagram posts. <\/p>\n

An effective green light from the Data Protection Commission<\/a>, which enforces data and privacy laws in Ireland, was a \u201dwelcome step\u201d, she wrote. <\/p>\n

However, Meta said despite the extensive talks at Irish and European level, Germany\u2019s data regulator threatened to intervene to block its plans to use public posts to train its AI product. The intervention, which the Hamburg authority later dropped, undermined the authority of Ireland\u2019s commission, Ms Egan told the Minister. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis development highlights, again, the urgent need for GDPR reform to ensure balance, coherence and effectiveness in the EU\u2019s data protection framework,\u201d the letter said. <\/p>\n

Meta has taken a more aggressive stance towards the EU\u2019s digital rule book since US president Donald Trump\u2019s return to office. Mr Trump has also targeted the union\u2019s tech regulations for regular criticism. <\/p>\n

The company has stepped up its lobbying efforts in Dublin and Brussels<\/a> in a bid to water down the EU\u2019s regulation of the tech sector. <\/p>\n

Meta has been handed several fines by Ireland\u2019s regulator and the European Commission, the EU\u2019s executive arm, for breaching data protection or digital regulations. Some of the rulings have directed the company to change how it operates or stop certain features, a practice that has infuriated Meta executives. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Data protection authorities need to move on online privacy issueOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In correspondence to Mr O\u2019Callaghan, Meta said the EU\u2019s data laws should be revised to take better account of \u201ceconomic interests\u201d and private sector innovation. <\/p>\n

Meta asked for the Government\u2019s support in taking concerns about the \u201cineffectiveness\u201d of the existing data protection framework to Ireland\u2019s EU commissioner Michael McGrath<\/a>, who oversees GDPR rules in his role as justice commissioner.<\/p>\n

Dublin could also flag the company\u2019s concerns to other European governments, Ms Egan suggested. \u201cWe would be grateful for your support for these changes, and for your advocacy at European level to achieve them,\u201d the Meta executive wrote. <\/p>\n

The correspondence between Meta and Mr O\u2019Callaghan was released to The Irish Times in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. A spokeswoman for Meta said the company did not have any comments to add beyond what it had set out in the letter. <\/p>\n

A Department of Justice spokesman said Ireland supported the commission\u2019s plan to simplify EU data protection laws. Though any changes had to \u201cget the balance right\u201d, by reducing some administrative burden, \u201cwhile continuing to protect the fundamental rights of citizens\u201d, he said. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Silicon Valley and the AI boom called \u2013 the 1990s are backOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has privately tried to convince the Irish Government to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,7242,89875,18,2219,877,89874,19,876,17,26735,1722,65123,4635],"class_list":{"0":"post-153645","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-data-protection-commission","10":"tag-data-protection-commissioner","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-european-union","13":"tag-facebook","14":"tag-gdpr-general-data-protection-regulation","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-instagram","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-jim-ocallaghan","19":"tag-meta","20":"tag-michael-mcgrath","21":"tag-whatsapp"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115464060442651913","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}