Sir Nick Clegg, Head of Global Affairs for Facebook, has claimed that the company's business model is under threat from proposed EU privacy regulations, reports The Sunday Telegraph.
According to documents seen by the newspaper, Clegg has told senior EU officials that Facebook's current relationship with online advertisers could be 'outlawed' by new EU proposals to protect the personal messages of internet users. He made the warning in a series of private meetings held with European and UK officials. Documents seen by the newspaper show that Clegg met with UK Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright as the World Economic Forum in Davos in January to discuss forthcoming government proposals designed to protect children from online dangers.
Clegg also held meetings with three EU commissioners in January, including Andrus Ansip, Vice President of the European Commission (EC). He expressed concern about proposed EU e-privacy regulation, which would require Facebook to get the consent of account holders before accessing and using their personal information. He also said that Facebook was working to introduce new tools to check political ads in the EU towards end-March.
