Facebook announced Monday that it will set up three digital skills training centers in Europe and that it is committed to training one million people over the next two years as part of a social networking giant's initiative to offer its contribution to Europe.
The company, which faces regulatory pressures in Europe over issues ranging from privacy to mistrust, said it would open three community skills centers in Spain, Poland and Italy and invest 10 million euros ($ 12.2 million) in France through the industrial intelligence research facility.
"People are concerned that they may not be able to catch up with the digital revolution and we want to emphasize that we are investing in digital skills so that people have the skills they need to fully participate in the digital economy," Sheryl Sandberg, head of operations at Facebook, told Reuters.
Community centers will provide training in digital skills, media education and online safety for groups with limited access to technology, including older persons, youth and refugees.
Facebook is committed to training a million people and businesses by 2020.
"Of course we want to emphasize that people see that we invest locally, we invest in technology and invest in people," Sandberg said.
The move comes as EU member states discuss proposals to increase the tax bill on multinational technology companies after major powers, which accuse companies such as Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook to reduce their tax bills by redirecting their profits in the European Union to countries with taxes Less like Luxembourg and Ireland.