Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal shows that national governments must get serious about protecting citizens online
During a debate in the European Parliament on the recent scandal that Cambridge Analytica misused over 87 million Facebook users’ data, S&D Group MEPs called on national governments to unblock legislation to protect citizens privacy online.
The Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal is a wake up call.Europe must take the lead on Digital Revolution and data protection. We need action from member states!
S&D has been fighting for years to ensure data protection against the resistance of most governments and conservative forces. For too long, the attitude in most governments was that this was a secondary issue. However, this scandal finally seems to have woken everyone up to how important protecting citizens online is. Being outraged by this scandal is not enough; we need action from member states to ensure it cannot happen again. Firstly, we need proper implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that will apply as of May 26. Our Group fought hard against the EPP Group and other conservative forces in the Parliament to ensure that we had strong new laws to protect citizens’ personal data. However, strong laws only mean something if they are properly implemented – member states must give their data protection authorities the resources necessary to actually enforce these new rules effectively.
Generalised digital skills for EU citizens are fundamental to prevent new scandals similar to #CambridgeAnalytica The implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights must ensure updated #SocialRights and skills for the new challenges.
Both regulation and education are crucial.
