Facebook has lost around one million users in Europe thanks to new data protection regulations. It isn’t a very big number compared to the 2.2 billion users one the social media platform, but it has rattled investor confidence.
The change was due to the European Union implementing the General Data Protection Regulations, which imposed new rules on how internet companies store customer data. Failure to comply with the regulations would see the sites blocked in the EU. As some smaller internet-based businesses discovered after missing the deadline.
On the whole, Facebook complied with the GDPR and made its advertising policies more clear. Clearing showing European users what their data is being used for, and allowing them to opt out of targeted ads. It would seem that knowing what goes on behind the scenes caused a large number of people to simply get up and leave.
At the same time, the company also reported that growth was flat in North America. Having practically not increased the number users from that region. Facebook’s stock price tumbled 20 percent due to this news.
Despite this bad news, it’s difficult to see Facebook actually continuing to grow its userbase. It already has 2.2 billion users; which is considerable compared to the 3 billion people who have access to the internet. In other words, there is practically nobody left to get on the platform.
[Source: Engadget]
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