Google’s EMEA Boss to Leave Company after Decade in Post

The logo of Google LLC is shown at an entrance to one of their buildings in San Diego, California, US, October 9, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Blake
The logo of Google LLC is shown at an entrance to one of their buildings in San Diego, California, US, October 9, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Blake
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Google’s EMEA Boss to Leave Company after Decade in Post

The logo of Google LLC is shown at an entrance to one of their buildings in San Diego, California, US, October 9, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Blake
The logo of Google LLC is shown at an entrance to one of their buildings in San Diego, California, US, October 9, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Blake

The man charged with overseeing Google’s operations in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia has stepped down after a decade in post.
Matt Brittin first joined the tech giant as head of UK and Ireland operations in 2007, before rising through the ranks to become vice president of northern and central Europe, and then EMEA president in 2014.
Prior to his time at Google, Brittin spent several years working as a consultant for McKinsey & Co, as well as a stint as commercial director Trinity Mirror, later rebranded as Reach PLC, Reuters reported.
In a post announcing his departure on social media platform LinkedIn, Brittin praised colleagues whose AI advances this week won the Nobel prize for chemistry, and shared advice one of Google’s co-founders gave him when he arrived at the company.
“When I joined Google in January 2007, Larry Page advised me to ‘put the best people you can on important work, and get out of the way.’ It’s been the privilege of my life to try to honor this - working with brilliant teams to help build tech that makes the world better,” he wrote.
Brittin said he would continue running Google’s EMEA operations until a successor had been chosen.



New Body to Handle Disputes between EU Users and Facebook, TikTok, YouTube

Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram apps are seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/
Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram apps are seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/
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New Body to Handle Disputes between EU Users and Facebook, TikTok, YouTube

Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram apps are seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/
Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram apps are seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/

An independent body, supported by Meta Platforms' Oversight Board, has a certification from the media regulator in Ireland to resolve appeals against policy violation decisions of social media companies in the European Union, Reuters reported.
Formed as a certified out-of-court dispute settlement body under the EU Digital Services Act (DSA), Appeals Centre Europe will initially decide cases relating to Facebook, ByteDance's TikTok and Alphabet's YouTube, and will include more social media platforms over time.
With a team of experts, the body will apply human review to every case within 90 days, and decide whether platforms' decisions are consistent with their content policies, it said in a statement.
Dublin-based Appeals Centre, which has an one-time grant from the Oversight Board, will be funded through fees charged to social media companies for each case. Users who raise a dispute will pay a nominal fee, which will be refunded if decision is in their favor.
However, under the rules of DSA, providers of online platforms may refuse to engage with such dispute settlement body and it shall not have the power to impose a binding settlement of the dispute on the parties.
The former director of the Oversight Board, Thomas Hughes, is taking on a new role as the inaugural CEO of the Appeals Centre.
"We want users to have the choice to raise a dispute to a body that is independent from governments and companies, and focused on ensuring platforms' content policies are fairly and impartially applied," Hughes said.
The Appeals Centre will have a board of seven non-executive directors and will start receiving disputes from users before the end of the year.