Rising Risks for Social Media Firms from Government Regulation

This article discusses the rising risks that social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram face from government regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union. It explores the impact of these regulations on the firms and the potential consequences of non-compliance.

Global Business
Environment Portfolio

Table of Contents
Rising risks global social media firms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, face from
proposed or actual government regulation and their possible impact on the firm.................3
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...............................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................4
Describe and explain how President Trump’s approach to economic policy impacts upon
foreign economies such as the UK or EU or China....................................................................4
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY...............................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................5
Discuss and interpret how emerging economies are presenting opportunities for global
expansion for businesses using examples to illustrate your work.............................................5
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................5
MAIN BODY...............................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................7

Rising risks global social media firms such as Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram, face from proposed or actual government regulation and their
possible impact on the firm
INTRODUCTION
Social Media firms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have been facing rising risks
from the various regulations of the government. The UK government has regulations such as
“Duty of Care” that all social media firms are expected to adhere to, so as to protect users.
Another regulation is “General Data Protection Regulation” which focuses on privacy and
protection of data in the European Union and European Economic Area (Adekola and Sergi,
2016). Knowing about their importance, Facebook has employed nearly 30,000 people who work
on safety and security. If any organization fails to adhere to these regulations, it has to face
heavy fines.
MAIN BODY
The impact of new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on Facebook
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a law set by the UK government for
the protection of privacy as well as data in the European Union. The regulation came into effect
in the year 2018 and replaced all the previous data protection rules in the European Union (What
is GDPR? The summary guide to GDPR compliance in the UK, 2020). The regulation gives
people more control of their personal information and was basically designed to protect the
personal information of users online. The regulation is particularly meant for social media firms
like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (Alexandrova, 2018). If any organization fails to adhere to
the rule, it will impact their performance adversely. The company will have to face heavy fines if
they fail to comply with the requirements. Therefore, companies like Facebook should ask its
users for the permission of using their personal data. If it does not do so, it can lead to the
company might losing its user’s trust.
If Facebook uses, stores or manages any kind of data of its users, it means that GDPR
will affect it. But Facebook is a company that is committed to protecting the data and privacy of
its users and thus complies to the different laws. It makes sure that all its products and services
are in sync with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The company has been

constantly reviewing and working on to expand its tools so that people can manage their privacy
as per their choice. Complying to GDPR can help Facebook enhance its different business
practices as well as develop effective strategies. GDPR also affects the use of Facebook Pixel
and thus the company should ask for the consent in case any personal information of the users in
used. Thus, if anytime Facebook fails to comply to the regulation, it will be charged with heavy
fines which can impact its overall performance.
CONCLUSION
Thus, it can be concluded that social media giants like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter
should incorporate various rules and regulations of the nation in which they operate so as to
maintain the privacy of their users from any kind of theft or illegal misuse (Cluzel and et. al.,
2016). This will also help them in protecting confidential data because Facebook does not allow
any kind of secret tracking of the data.
Describe and explain how President Trump’s approach to economic policy
impacts upon foreign economies such as the UK or EU or China.
INTRODUCTION
President Trump has developed certain economic policies in order to improve the overall
financial position of America like inflation, unemployment, economic growth etc. All these
policies are formulated keeping in mind that there is an overall development of the nation’s
economy. There are various other policies such as military spending, free trade, nationalization
which are very important and are also known as policy goals. These policies can either affect the
nation positively or negatively. Each policy has its specific guidelines that should be strictly
followed by each country.
MAIN BODY
The economic policy has impacted both, the United Kingdom as well as China. UK will
be impacted by Trump’s economic policies as he plans to make the US dollar a strong currency
by limiting overseas imports that are cheap. This will lead to an increase in the level of inflation
in the country (Dobrovolskienė and Tamošiūnienė, 2016). On the other hand, China will also be
impacted because Trump is planning to place a tariff of 45% on goods that are imported for the
country. This will impact China’s willingness of doing business with the US. The international

rules and regulations also impact globalization as if China does not pay the tariffs introduced by
the US government, it will have to face a short-term freeze. The tariffs will not impact the UK
economy as much but the steel industry will not be able to pay tariffs continuously.
The policy has also had an impact on manufacturing as well as he financial markets of
stock exchange. Trade war impacted China because earlier it was US’s number one trading
partner but due to the same its position came down to be third. Also, high tariffs led to the
creation of risk associated with working and living in China (Ferraro and Briody, 2017). Big
multinational companies such as Apple, Dell etc. have started moving out of China which has
proved out to be a negative impact on the nation. Free trade and Tariffs have also impacted both
UK as well as China as US is the strongest and most powerful nation within the World Trade
Organization. But President Trump thinks that both the WTO as well as imports are among huge
threats to the US. As a result, the administration is on a kind of war against the system of global
trading. Therefore, the economic policies laid by President Trump can prove out to be a turning
point for the nation within its global economic leadership.
CONCLUSION
Thus, in order to avoid any negative implications on their economies, both UK as well as
China should communicate with international companies operating in their respectively so that
these restrictions can be avoided. They should also follow the various government rules and
regulations relating to the import of goods to the US. Lastly, it is important that these countries
have a skilled labor and should sell their products at low prices. This will contribute towards
enhancing their overall efficiency.
Discuss and interpret how emerging economies are presenting opportunities
for global expansion for businesses using examples to illustrate your work.
INTRODUCTION
An emerging economy can be defined as an economy that comprises of some
characteristics of a developed market. It explains the economy of a country that is gradually
getting more involved in the markets globally (Gooris and Peeters, 2016). Emerging economies
are of utmost importance for international business as they contribute towards the growth of
overall economy globally. Apart from this, they also pose significant social and political risks.

Some examples of emerging economies are Brazil, China, Russia, India and South Africa. The
GDP of Russia recorded in the year 2019 was $342,226 million (Russia GDP - Gross Domestic
Product, 2020).
MAIN BODY
FDI or Foreign Direct Investment is a type of investment that helps in obtaining a long-
term benefit to businesses that operate outside of the economy of the investor. It takes place
within countries that have an open economy and can offer highly skilled labor to an investor.
Talking about Russia, FDI has played an important role in its overall development (Hooper,
2016). The capital that inflows from foreign investors contribute towards strengthening the
infrastructure, create employment opportunities as well as increase the overall level of
productivity. In order to attract foreign companies to come and invest in India, the government
released the draft of National E-Commerce Policy that encouraged FDI in its marketplace. The
government of the nation also revised rules of FDI relating to e-commerce. On the other hand,
Russia offers more investment opportunities to small businesses like fish and seafood business,
oil and gas business etc.
One of the advantages India is gaining after providing opportunities for FDI include an
increase in employment as well as overall growth. This is because if there will be more
investment by the foreign countries, the overall income levels of the people will also increase.
Also, the investors will get an easy business climate as well as relaxed norms relating to trade
norms. On the other hand, China got an opportunity to develop itself economically (Torres-Ruiz
and Ravindran, 2018). This led to an increase in the nation’s overall productivity as well as
stability for the Chinese government. There was a Phone War between the US and China the
back story goes back to when Huawei decided to manufacture its own phones instead of just
manufacturing components for iPhone. Due to this the company outperformed the market and
sold more phones than Apple. Thus, this was when President Trump helped Apple in getting the
first place by attacking Huawei.
CONCLUSION
Therefore, it can be concluded that China has a greater GDP of 13.000 billion US dollars
and this is because investors are attracted by the opportunities that it provides. One of the reasons
behind this is also that China is technologically more advanced that other countries. It can also

be said that countries who use foreign direct investment have gained a more stable economy
which has led to a decline in the overall level of unemployment.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Adekola, A. and Sergi, B. S., 2016. Global business management: A cross-cultural perspective.
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Alexandrova, M., 2018. A principal component analysis of project portfolio management
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Cluzel, F. and et. al., 2016. Eco-ideation and eco-selection of R&D projects portfolio in complex
systems industries. Journal of Cleaner Production. 112. pp.4329-4343.
Dobrovolskienė, N. and Tamošiūnienė, R., 2016. Sustainability-oriented financial resource
allocation in a project portfolio through multi-criteria decision-making. Sustainability.
8(5). p.485.
Ferraro, G. P. and Briody, E. K., 2017. The cultural dimension of global business. Taylor &
Francis.
Gooris, J. and Peeters, C., 2016. Fragmenting global business processes: A protection for
proprietary information. Journal of International Business Studies. 47(5). pp.535-562.
Hooper, M. J., 2016. The global business handbook: The eight dimensions of international
management. CRC Press.
Torres-Ruiz, A. and Ravindran, A. R., 2018. Multiple criteria framework for the sustainability
risk assessment of a supplier portfolio. Journal of cleaner production. 172. pp.4478-
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Online
Russia GDP - Gross Domestic Product. 2020. [Online]. Available through:<
https://countryeconomy.com/gdp/russia>.
What is GDPR? The summary guide to GDPR compliance in the UK. 2020. [Online]. Available
through:< https://www.wired.co.uk/article/what-is-gdpr-uk-eu-legislation-compliance-
summary-fines-2018 >.