May 28, 2019 - Technology

Europe's privacy law celebrates its first birthday

Ina Fried, author of Login

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

It's been a year since Europe's strict new privacy law, known as GDPR, went into effect.

What's happening: Ireland, which is tasked with investigating potential violations by most of the U.S. tech giants, has launched 19 cross-border probes, including 11 against Facebook, according to the BBC.

  • Twitter, LinkedIn and Google also face probes, per the BBC report.
  • Here are some of the other actions taken by various European regulators.

Why it matters: Despite fears GDPR's rules would be either too onerous or not go far enough, the law is emerging as a model for privacy legislation elsewhere, including in the U.S.

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Jeff Sessions. Photo: Michael DeMocker/Getty Images

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Why it matters: Sessions had been the underdog in the race against former Auburn University head football coach Tommy Tuberville, who had the backing of President Trump. Tuberville will now face off against Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) in November, who is considered to have one of the most vulnerable Democratic Senate seats in the country.

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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

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  2. U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 9 p.m. ET: 3,424,304 — Total deaths: 136,432 — Total recoveries: 1,049,098 — Total tested: 41,764,557 — Map.
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JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon. Photo: J. Lawler Duggan/For The Washington Post via Getty Images

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Why it matters: The cumulative $28 billion in loan loss provisions that banks have so far announced they’re reserving serves as a signal they’re preparing for a colossal wave of loan defaults as the economy slogs through a coronavirus-driven downturn.

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