Alexander Fanta Profile picture
Jul 9, 2019 8 tweets 3 min read Read on X
Head of German anti-trust regulator Andreas Mundt warns we should not just worry about GAFA (Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook), but also about BAT - Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, soon to enter the European market. #dataprotection Image
In a neat pastiche of the looming power of data in competition, Mundt has European Data Protection Supervisor Giovanni Buttarelli looming over him via stream. Tellingly for EU policy-making, they are speaking in the Bavarian representation smack behind the EP. #TechPolicy
Mundt lays out the reformist case for addressing competition imbalances through data dominance by Google and Facebook. He talks about the Facebook case the German authorities were prosecuting on the merger with WhatsApp.
Mundt says that authorities need to achieve an internal divestiture and data silos within companies, which could be achieved easer rather than breaking them up, 'especially for small agencies in Bonn'.
Now on to convening the full panel of DATA PROTECTION AND COMPETITIVENESS IN THE DIGITAL AGE, a shindig organised by @EU_EDPS at the Bavarian castle. Quite high-profile attendance with Commission overlord Martin Selmayr, ICO's Elisabeth Denham, Ulrich Kelber and CNIL's head. Image
@CNIL's head Marie-Laure Denis urges more regulatory cooperation within Europe, not only between DPA's and competition authorities, but also human rights bodies and cyber-security agencies. Joint studies, staff exchanges and formal networks. Draw together expertise.
Martin Selmayr announces assesment of GDPR one year on, calling for an end to gold-plating. He jokes about German 'hysteria' about data protection. "We invent something, bring it to Brussels and then lament about it. We also do this even with Commission president candidates."
For the German speakers among you, I wrote a summary of last nights debate: netzpolitik.org/2019/europas-b…

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More from @FantaAlexx

Aug 25
The news that Telegram founder Pavel Durov was arrested at the airport in Paris is huge, with potentially massive consequences for EU digital policy. So far, Telegram is the outlier among messaging apps - a lawless place, where scams and drug trade happen with near impunity. 🧵
Law enforcement across Europe complain that Telegram ignores requests such as for subscriber data of users engaged in suspected drug trades. Telegram gets away with it partly because its HQ is in the UAE, thus removing it from the grasp of EU authorities.
Since the EU's Digital Services Act has kicked into force last year, Telegram has named an EU representative in Belgium, which in theory makes it the point of contact for authorities across Europe. But that along gives law enforcement little leverage to get data from Telegram.
Read 8 tweets
Jul 15
Remember when Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher had all these one-on-one meetings with important people in the European Union, including Commission President Ursula von der Leyen?

Kutcher was lobbying to curtail privacy, for the sake of fighting child sexual abuse. What gives? 🧵 Image
Two years ago, the European Commission proposed a law that could give authorities the power to require service providers such as WhatsApp to scan all user images and videos on device for child abuse images (CSAM), even circumventing encryption. Privacy advocates were alarmed.
But despite the concerns, Kutcher's NGO Thorn lobbied heavily for the law - and offered its own software to scan for CSAM.

As the Commission readied its proposal, it thanked Thorn as 'partner' for its 'close collaboration'. Image
Read 11 tweets
Oct 15, 2023
BREAKING - After reports that the EU Commission used political microtargeting to sway key groups of their controversial CSAM proposal, the European Data Protection Supervisor has reached out under the "so-called pre-investigation procedure."

What does this mean?
The EDPS requested "information related to the described use of microtargeted ads, to be provided by 20 0ctober."
The EU's data protection authority told me that while "this step does not constitute opening of a formal investigation, the EDPS will assess the information, once received from the Commissions, and decide on the potential next steps accordingly."
Read 5 tweets
Feb 13, 2023
This is a huge, huge deal. Could be the biggest EU transparency litigation in a decade.

The New York Times is taking the European Commission to court over Ursula von der Leyen's secret text messages with the CEO of Pfizer.

A bit more context in this 🧵

politico.eu/article/new-yo…
What is this about?

In 2021, the EU was desperate for more Covid vaccines. Pfizer had the goods, but was slow to deliver.

In the dire early months of 2021, Von der Leyen took it on herself to personally negotiate for 1,8 billion vaccine doses.
Soon after Von der Leyen sealed the deal with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla in calls and text messages, the New York Times reported.

nytimes.com/2021/04/28/wor…
Read 13 tweets
Jul 14, 2022
The Commission has denied access to the EU membership questionnaire which president Zelenskyy personally handed to Ursula von der Leyen during a visit to Kyiv in June. #Ukraine Von der Leyen handed a piece of paper by Zelenskyi
Why is this important? Von der Leyen said in a speech on April 8 that "[t]his questionnaire is the basis for our discussion in the coming months." It details on political and economic criteria for accession, as well as the aquis of European law.
When I asked the Commission for the questionnaire, they told me that the Ukrainian government had published the questions (if not the answers) on their website. They have since been removed and are unfindable on the Wayback Machine.
Read 8 tweets
Apr 30, 2022
Eigentlich recht merkwürdig, dass das ziemlich beachtliche Interview von @KappacherS mit Gemeindebundpräsident Riedl im Mittagsjournal heute so wenig Beachtung fand. Warum es so interessant war? Ein 🧵
Zum einen hat Riedl mit seiner kritischen Haltung zur ÖVP-Spitze kaum hinter Berg gehalten und deutlich Ärger über die vielen Korruptionsvorwürfe spüren lassen. Im einzigen Zeitungsbericht im Kurier kommt das zahm rüber, aber an der Basis brodelt offenbar.
kurier.at/politik/inland…
Interessant auch, dass Riedl beim heißen Övp-Thema Kinderbetreuung ("Kann ich ein Bundesland aufheizen") mehr Geld und Standards vom Bund fordert. Hier kriegt die Kritik an der kopflosen Parteiführung eine inhaltliche Kontur.
Read 5 tweets

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