Cameron Jenkins
The HillSat, 30 Jan 2021 09:25 UTC
© Reuters/Dado Ruvic
Facebook announced that it has hired its first chief compliance officer as the company faces scrutiny from regulators.
Henry Moniz will join Facebook on Feb. 8 to head the social media giant's compliance team,
The Wall Street Journal reported. Moniz previously served as chief compliance officer and chief audit executive for media company ViacomCBS and
will be the first to hold the title of compliance chief at Facebook.Moniz will work under Facebook's general counsel Jennifer Newstead, according to the Journal, and report to a board committee that oversees audit and risk. Facebook reportedly hopes Moniz's appointment will help the company move toward its
goal of enhancing global compliance and risk management as well as promoting high standards of legal and ethical conduct. Newstead said in a statement:
"The current regulatory environment demands strong compliance leadership, and Henry will play a key role in driving our ongoing commitment to continually strengthen our global compliance and risk management functions."
Facebook has faced increasing pressure from lawmakers and other regulators globally on
issues of privacy, competition and taxes.
Earlier this month,
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) sent a letter to the company raising concerns about it continuing to recommend political groups to users despite top executives claiming the platform would stop doing so. Markey said that the situation cast doubt on Facebook's compliance.
"These findings cast serious doubt on Facebook's compliance with the promises you have publicly made to me and to your users," Markey said at the time, referencing CEO Mark Zuckerberg's statement to a Senate committee that Facebook had "taken the step of stopping recommendations in groups for all political content on social issue groups."
Facebook has had a compliance group, but Moriz will be the first to be a dedicated compliance officer, the
Journal reported.
Comment: What goes around...Facebook is prepping an
antitrust lawsuit against Apple - the core allegation targets App Store rules:
Facebook has reportedly been preparing an antitrust lawsuit against Apple for months, an allegation that the company is forcing developers to follow App Store rules that its own apps don't have to abide by. According to The Information, if Facebook decides to file suit, its complaint could also target Apple's refusal to allow third-party apps from becoming the default messaging service on its devices instead of iMessage. Apple has said that it's bringing in the policy to protect user privacy.
The potential litigation would follow an antitrust suit that Epic Games brought against Apple last year. The developer is seeking changes to Apple's business practices, including its cut of app sales and in-app purchases. Facebook and several other companies joined Epic in criticizing Apple's "unfair" policies.
Like Epic, Facebook could ask for changes to App Store rules rather than monetary damages from Apple. Apple claims its App Store rules reduce the risk of malware and scams.
Recently, WhatsApp accused Apple of having a double standard when it comes to data privacy labels on iOS.
When Facebook reported its quarterly earnings on Wednesday, CFO Dave Wehner suggested that Apple's plan to limit cross-site and cross-app tracking for advertising purposes, which should come into effect early this year, could have an impact on ad revenue.
Zuckerberg took a swing at iMessage for storing "non-end-to-end encrypted backups of your messages by default unless you disable iCloud." He claimed that WhatsApp was "clearly superior" when it comes to protecting people's messages.
The Federal Trade Commission and most state attorneys general sued Facebook last month. They accused it of anti-competitive practices by scooping up rival companies Instagram and WhatsApp and hope to undo those acquisitions. Apple, meanwhile, is the subject of a European Union antitrust investigation and is reportedly part of another probe by the Department of Justice.
Comes around... A West Virginia
newspaper publisher is suing both Google and Facebook:
A West Virginia news publisher has filed an antitrust suit against Google and Facebook, who together receive roughly half of all digital ad dollars in the U.S. and are facing antitrust charges from federal and state authorities. The company, HD Media, owns several papers in the state, including the Herald-Dispatch in Huntington and the Charleston Gazette-Mail.
HD Media claims Google has so monopolized the online ad market that "it threatens the extinction of local newspapers across the country." The suit also alleges that Google and Facebook conspired to further their dominance with a secret agreement, referring to a suit filed by 10 Republican attorneys general in December.
The company claims it has hurt its ability to "effectively monetize its content" because Google is enabled to take an uncompetitive share of the news publisher's ad revenues.
It's the first antitrust lawsuit against a tech platform focused on news publishing, said David Chavern, head of the news trade group News Media Alliance.
HD Media filed in federal court in West Virginia and asked for a jury trial.
Comment: What goes around...Facebook is prepping an antitrust lawsuit against Apple - the core allegation targets App Store rules: Comes around... A West Virginia newspaper publisher is suing both Google and Facebook: