Facebook seems to never get off the news recently in terms of legalities. This time, it is the Kiwis it has to deal with. The social media platform is accused of breaking the privacy law of New Zealand!
Kiwi privacy commissioner John Edwards said today, March 28, that Facebook did not release information to a man who was curious about what others’ opinions are on social media regarding him. Edwards added that access to personal info was denied by the social giant.
Naturally, Facebook said that they are not bound by the Kiwi privacy laws, and neither will they have to comply with requests. The media giant received a ‘broad and intrusive request for private data from the commissioner, and they simply protected user data by turning it down.
We are disappointed that the New Zealand privacy commissioner asked us to provide access to a year’s worth of private data belonging to several people and then criticized us for protecting their privacy. – Facebook
Edwards’ finding lets the man in question charge Facebook financially. It wasn’t revealed if the unnamed man would be pursuing the same.
The case further raises jurisdictional questions, where Facebook has to comply with Kiwi laws, as said by Edwards. The social network replied that it isn’t compulsory as its operation is based in Ireland.
We don’t believe there’s any credible question that it’s operating in New Zealand and is subject to New Zealand laws. – commissioner
Facebook didn’t respond to this in its statement. The tech giant investigated the complaints of the unidentified man but didn’t come across anything viable that’d let them reach a conclusion.
We have a long history of working with the commissioner, and we will continue to request information that will help us investigate this complaint further. – Facebook
Facebook scrutinized all requests for personal data disclosure and clearly stated that they’ll challenge each of those requests that are too broad. They can surely challenge Edwards’ finding, although it isn’t clear if they are to go for any legal action at all.
Edwards even said that Facebook makes money from Kiwi businesses. No official response is provided by the social platform but stay with us to know more about how this case would progress.
