About

Facebook’s operations in Ireland are supported by an expert Data Protection and Privacy (DPP) legal function, headed by Yvonne Cunnane, who is also a director of Facebook Ireland. The team, which is responsible for all privacy matters for Facebook users outside the US and Canada (which comprises 84.5% of daily active users), is made up of five experienced international data protection and technology lawyers with the added support of a legal executive assistant. Described as being ‘at the core of everything we do at Facebook’, the DPP team are crucial with ensuring compliance with Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC as transposed into Irish data protection law, an integral and intricate task given the fast moving nature of the practice area. In addition to advising internal business partners with commercially-minded advice, the team is also actively involved in proactively outreaching to data protection authorities, setting an example and proving their worth in the face of a difficult market environment. The team’s role also extends to external clients, the team have several methods by which they generate awareness about the many privacy enhancing tools and features that are available to people who use Facebook. The DPP team work across functional teams in Facebook to develop innovative and helpful privacy tools for users, evincing their direct impact on Facebook’s business including Privacy Check-up and Privacy Basics. The latter answers Facebook users’ most common questions about privacy in an interactive, easy to understand way, without having to look through a privacy policy or similar documents. Able to produce such a user friendly way of explaining the applicable law shows the ability of the team to communicate its work, and in covering such a large remit they can be confident their efforts are appreciated by not only their internal clients in the Facebook business, but its millions of users in the region too.