Facebook spearheads first wave of European digital training hubs
Facebook is to establish a digital bridgehead in Europe with the opening of three new training hubs through which it aims to impart digital expertise to as many as one million people and business owners by 2020.
Facebook spearheads first wave of European digital training hubs
The PR move aims to convince skeptical European governments that the social media giant has the continent's best interests at heart amid growing regulatory pressures borne out of concerns stemming from data privacy and antitrust issues.
Under the plans Facebook will fund and operate three ‘community skills hubs’ in Spain, Poland and Italy while investing $12.2m in a French artificial intelligence research facility.
Revealing the expansion drive to Reuters Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, said: “People are worried that the digital revolution is leaving people behind and we want to make sure that we’re investing in digital skills to get people the skills they need to fully participate in the digital economy.”
Once operational each hub will offer training in specific areas such as digital skills, media literacy and online safety to those most in need, such as the old, young and refugees.
The rollout follows the establishment of similar hubs in countries as diverse as Nigeria and Brazil.
Europe and Facebook have had something of a love hate relationship amidst concerns at the transfer of data on EU citizens to the US.