EU Commits to Stricter GDPR Monitoring; Snap Warns of Sales Drop After Growth Stalls

by Hannah Dillon on 1st Feb 2023 in News

In today's ExchangeWire news digest: the EU Commission announces it will tighten its monitoring of GDPR cases; Snap warns of a potential drop in sales after revenue growth stalled; and Tech Nation announces its closure after failing to secure government funding.

EU Commission overhauls checks to GDPR cases

The European Commission has committed to assessing every large-scale GDPR case in Europe. The regulatory overhaul follows a complaint from the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) to the EU Ombudsman over a “data deficit” within the region.

The EU will now ask all national data protection authorities to submit a report on the progress of any GDPR complaints on a bi-monthly basis. ICCL senior fellow, Dr Johnny Ryan, said the changes should force an “acceleration in investigation and enforcement”.

Snap warns of potential sales drop

Social media giant Snap has warned that it anticipates a drop in sales for Q1 2023 after revenue growth stalled. The Snapchat-parent advised it had generated USD$1.3bn (~£1.05bn) in sales during Q4 2022, the company’s lowest posting since going public in 2017.

Snap chief executive, Evan Spiegel, commented, “We continue to face significant headwinds as we look to accelerate revenue growth.”

Tech Nation to close after losing government grant

UK start-up accelerator programme Tech Nation has been forced to shut down after failing to secure funding from the government. The tech industry body announced the closure on Tuesday (31st January), stating it will be “ceasing all existing operations through a carefully planned wind-down" and it "has commenced a redundancy consultation process.”

Tech Nation recently lost out on £12.09m in funding from the government’s Digital Growth Grant, which was instead issued to Barclays Eagle Labs. The group is now“actively seeking interested parties to acquire its portfolio of assets to take forward in a new guise”.