When Europe's new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) kicked in on May 25, 2018, it unleashed a torrent of surprises. Examples included:
- Companies unprepared for GDPR decided to block European IP addresses to try to limit their exposure. This included major players like the Los Angeles Times. They were quickly placed into a brand new "GDPR Hall of Shame."
- GDPR had many laughing. It was just too much fun on social media. Don't miss the "10 Funniest Tweets from #GDPRday."
- Item number 3 has to be the most ironic thing to come out of GDPR notifications. Many companies CC'd hundreds of customers on compliance notifications—revealing users' emails to everyone else on the list! We'll let The Register run with this one. As the headline says, "BCC is hard, OK?".
One thing that is not a surprise: Privacy activists were ready for GDPR and are filing all kinds of complaints against the world's tech giants. See more: "Are Facebook, Google, Instagram, and WhatsApp Already Violating GDPR?"
Regulators will have to answer that question. And however they do, rest assured that social media will have fun with it.
