by FFE EU News Staff

German chancellor targets Facebook’s anti-privacy policies in bid to push European Internet.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday announced she is backing the EU-led call for global Internet governance and used Facebook as an example of how an Internet company is able to dodge Europe’s strict privacy laws.

Facebook doesn’t keep secret the fact that it uses data from its 1.2 billion users to fuel ‘social ads’ for businesses. The company also said its users cannot opt out of this practice and options to control it are buried deep within the privacy settings.

The EU, on the other hand, with its stricter privacy laws wants Internet companies like Facebook to give its users the power to delete their own data for good. Differences in Internet laws between America and the EU have served to increase the gap between the two: a relationship that has already been rocked by the NSA mass surveillance expose by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Merkel said ‘Google or Facebook can naturally go where privacy is at its lowest and we in Europe cannot approve this in the long run.’ She proposed a ‘European Internet’ where all cables and servers will be based in Europe and subject to the region’s data protection laws.

The German chancellor announced she will meet French President Hollande on Wednesday to discuss the issue further.