Yesterday the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) decided that Facebook page owners (incl. small businesses and solo-preneurs like me), will now also be held responsible for any of Facebook's violations of privacy.
English article here
German (more detailed) article here
Many solo-preneurs will give up
We are all soo fatigued from trying to comply with everything.
What about those entrepreneurs who make most of their sales from their facebook page and ads? I wonder how many small business owners throw in the towel now, if they haven't already. The GDPR already brought many to their knees (I closed one website completely).
Image from Pexels.com
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Here in Europe and especially Germany it's impossible to follow all the GDPR rules (we're not even allowed to use Google fonts anymore unless we have added disclaimers everywhere... ) and while it has been a full time job to try and implement all the things it required, we will all live in uncertainty and worry of potentially violating some of the requirements. It's crazy.
And now this on top of everything...
I will close my Facebook page, just like I closed my German website. I have better things to do than live in fear of maybe, possibly, potentially, violating some rule from a tiny small print that some government employee decided, who has never run a business.
On the bright side...
This will (hopefully) give the final push to the rise of decentralized, private social networks on the blockchain, now that more and more people will begin to actively look for an alternative.
"Isn't there another platform where we can hang out?"
Someone asked that in a business group on Facebook today.
We have Steemit, even though it doesn't really provide an alternative for business pages and groups. It's a pity and a missed opportunity in my view.
The upcoming ONO launch on the other hand couldn't have better timing. I don't know if ONO will provide a suitable alternative for Facebook when it comes to business pages and communities, but from what I've heard so far, it does sound very much like it.
R.I.P. Facebook?
I think we are witnessing the gradual disappearance of Facebook and centralized social media right now... It's kind of fascinating. It's just sad that it will probably bring along the disappearance of many small businesses as well.