Facebook, Google Eyeing Federal Law for Self Serving Purposes, Warns Augusto Beato

Augusto Beato, CEO of Portland SEO, said that Congress should shun attempts by Facebook and Google in protecting their interests by lobbying for a federal privacy law.

There's an issue of Facebook's mishandling of personal data that eventually used by political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica in President Trump’s 2016 campaign to target messages to voters. Meanwhile, Google was investigated last year for allegations that it mishandled private customer data and manipulated its search results to favor its own products.

Both companies want "kinder" and pro-business federal data privacy rules that will override stringent state privacy laws like California's recently passed Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). "These companies are hoping to counter the expectations put on them by the CCPA and the increased scrutiny due to data mishandling," warned Augusto Beato, CEO of Portland SEO. "They want to craft a federal law more favorable to their businesses."

Businesses seeking to improve online visibility may reach Portland SEO for advice through this link.

The CCPA is California’s version of GDPR, a European data privacy law that governs all EU citizens, no matter where their data is collected. Under GDPR, data privacy breaches carry huge penalties — up to 4 percent of a company’s annual global turnover or €20 million (whichever is greater). Breaches of CCPA also carry high penalties. According to a New York Times report, Facebook believes that the CCPA will seriously hamper the tech industry.

At a board meeting for the Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC) in May, Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s top lobbyist, warned that an early proposal for privacy in California posed a threat to the industry and that the trade group needed to make the issue of privacy a priority.

Lobbyists for other tech companies agreed that it could be more problematic than the GDPR and that it would unleash a patchwork of state laws that would not only strap their businesses but become a regulatory headache, the people briefed on the meeting said.

The sources said that the tech firms’ proposed federal law would have a dual purpose: “It would overrule the California law and instead put into place a kinder set of rules that would give the companies wide leeway over how personal digital information was handled.”

The Times noted that “companies like IBM and Salesforce, which sell data storage and software to other businesses, were more willing to accept consumer privacy laws, IBM and other members of the Information Technology Industry Council said. Social media and other companies that relied primarily on advertising for revenue, like Facebook and Google, were adamant that the industry should fight all rules.”