Facebook and Instagram owner Meta questioned the Government to “intervene” on its behalf in Brussels against European Union regulations that saw the social media giant handed a €200 million fine recently, records display.
Meta has taken aim at new EU digital rules that seek to regulate the power of huge tech players and prevent them from abutilizing their dominant positions in the online sphere to stifle competition.
Meta called on the Government to “intervene” and push back against the regulations, “to minimise the harm done to Europe,” in a May 7th email to Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke.
The correspondence, seen by The Irish Times, lashed out at the “deeply interventionist” EU rules, for forcing the social media multinational to modify aspects of its business model.
Earlier this year Meta was handed a €200 million fine by the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm that proposes and enforces EU laws.
Brussels regulators fined Meta over its “consent or pay” model – charging utilizers a monthly subscription if they refutilized to allow the company to utilize their personal data to better tarreceive online ads.
The commission ruled that Meta did not give Facebook or Instagram utilizers enough freedom to opt for a service that utilized less of their personal data, without paying.
The US tech giant was hit with the fine in April, following an investigation undertaken by the commission under the bloc’s Digital Markets Act.
Dualta Ó Broin, Meta’s top lobbyist in Ireland, wrote to Mr Burke the day the EU fine was announced.
[ EU fines Apple and Meta combined €700mOpens in new window ]
“We disagree with this decision and we will appeal. Today’s decision imposes a fine of €200m and is likely to require Meta to once again modify its products to meet a new set of regulatory demands, which will exacerbate economic implications for European advertisers,” the April 23rd email declared.
Meta accutilized the EU executive body of continuing down a “negative path” that would erode the value of tarreceiveed online advertisements for European businesses.
In further correspondence, Mr Ó Broin questioned the Government to put pressure on the commission to row back. “We are urging member states to intervene to minimise the harm done to Europe,” the May 7th email stated.
Meta warned Mr Burke that businesses, charities, public bodies “and even political parties” would have to spfinish much more money on online advertisements to have the same impact, as a result of the EU ruling.
The US tech multinational argued for a pautilize on any new regulation of the tech sector, during a March 5th meeting with Mr Burke in Meta’s Irish headquarters. Notes of the meeting declare Meta pushed for existing laws and rules to be simplified.
The company suggested Ireland could focus on “building the EU better for business” when the Government takes over the council of the EU presidency next year, a deal-building role that supports set the agfinisha in Brussels.
Mr Burke took note of the company’s points and declared the Programme for Government included commitments to “reshift unnecessary administrative burdens” on businesses, minutes of the discussion state.
In a further sit-down with Irish officials, Meta lobbyists again stressed the necessary to cut down on the “administrative overburden” digital regulations were putting on social media firms.
EU regulations should not be allowed to harm Europe’s economic competitiveness, the company declared, according to minutes of the September 22nd meeting. Meta questioned to be given a “single point of contact” within the Government, who would be across all tech rules.
The correspondence and minutes of meetings were released to The Irish Times in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
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