Between scare or death, I choose scare. The uproar caused by Meta's launch of the social network Threads as a platform linked to Instagram has not made some of the implications of Mark Zuckerberg's new project sufficiently visible. In five days, more than one hundred million people have plummeted to open an account in this new space for public conversation by hitting the accept button as many times as it has appeared on the access screen. That, when we talk about the founder of Facebook, is a risky sport.
It is difficult to summarize the list of data that is transferred to Meta when its applications are used. The practical thing would be to say that absolutely everything is given to you, but I will make a brief list: health and fitness, credit cards, physical and internet address, browsing history, how to use the apps, purchases, location , contacts, searches, sensitive data (such as political and sexual orientations) and other data (all those that are missing).
Among those hundred million unsuspecting citizens of the European Union are not counted. Not because we are not as reckless as those of the rest of the world, but because Meta has not dared to launch Threads in the community area, fearful that laws such as the one on digital markets (DMA), which is coming into full force application at the beginning of 2024, or the general data protection regulation (RGPD), which is already in force. Europe protects us, although sometimes it does it badly and late, but it is a safeguard against the abuses of someone who, like Zuckerberg, deeply despises our privacy. This is not an opinion. It is a fact after his repeated fouls.
The last fine imposed on Meta by the Irish data protection authority was last May for an amount of 1,200 million euros. Zuckerberg already knows who he's playing with, so Threads isn't going out in Europe. That absence may be temporary. but it cannot be ruled out that it is permanent, because one of the things that the EU penalizes is the crossing of data from one platform to another and Threads is linked to Instagram. So much so that, if the account of the first is cancelled, that of the second is also cancelled. Like J.R.R.'s power ring. Tolkien, a good system to tie them all up.
Elon Musk is not a champion of good practice either. He has demoted Twitter in just eight months. He now fights with Zuckerberg over the networks and both threaten a physical fight at a Las Vegas venue. The latest from the South African is that he called his rival an "asshole" and proposed an unfortunate contest to measure his genitalia. Neither are worthy of any trust, but if the choice is between Twitter and Threads, the choice is clear to me.
