Worldwide Concern Over Libra
Regulators from the privacy sector, data sector and finance sector have collectively come together with an issued joint statement. This statement pertains to the concerns they all have regarding Libra, the digital currency from Facebook. Regulators have signed the report from Canada, the USA, Albania, Burkina Faso, Australia and the European Union. It’s been published online by the United Kingdom Information Commissioners Officer.
One part of the statement reads: “Facebook and Calibra have made broad public statements about privacy, they have failed to specifically address the information handling practices that will be in place to secure and protect personal information.”
Facebook announced Project Libra back in June 2019, with their announcement then indicating they wanted to launch Libra by early 2020. The social media giant has even gone as far as to create a Non-Profit Organization in Switzerland, meaning the world governments can not indict them. This was done purposely, as the company has faced significant backlash worldwide for their mistakes with protecting user data. This is what’s prompted regulators worldwide to come together & create a change that ensures Libra is stopped dead in its tracks.
The conjoined statement continues saying: “Many of us in the regulatory community has had to address previous episodes where Facebook’s handling of people’s information has not met the expectations of regulators, or their users. These risks are not limited to financial privacy, since the involvement of Facebook Inc, and its broad categories of data collection on hundreds of millions of users raises additional concerns.”
Regulators Demanding Data Privacy
The social media giant hasn’t provided any concrete answers or plans as to how they’ll handle the data of Libra Customers. Considering that the data acquired will be finance-related, regulators are highly concerned that Facebook will sell the banking information of consumers to third-world companies.
Enforcement authorities globally are demanding that Facebook implement a new level of data protection or privacy enforcement to ensure authorities that their services will be trustworthy. Currently, Facebook has ignored the requirements made by watchdog authorities worldwide. David Marcus, the Head of Libra, has told the United States Senate that there’s no need to be concerned about data privacy. This is because of the decentralized nature of the Libra Network. However, many speculate that this is a ploy and an unrecognized tracking algorithm will be applied to collect consumer data.
The Joint Statement Ended with the common saying, “Given the current plans for rapid implementation of Libra and Calibra, we are surprised and concerned that this further detail is not yet available.”