Parent company Meta stated that Facebook and Instagram may be shut down across Europe following European data regulations issues. The regulations prevent Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, from transferring, storing and processing Europeans’ data on US-based servers. 

In its annual report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the country’s financial authority, Meta warned last Thursday that if no new framework is adopted and the company could no longer use the current model of agreements it would probably have to ‘walk away from the continent.’The statement said that if Meta aren’t able too transfer data between and among countries and regions in which they operate, or are restricted from sharing data, it could impact their ability to provide services. 

This is because data transfer is crucial for business and advert targeting. Without doomsaying any rash actions, Meta has claimed that it could probably reach some sort of agreement this year to navigate the issue. Meta could previously use a data transfer framework called Privacy Shield as the legal basis to carry out transatlantic data transfers. However, in July 2020, the European Court of Justice annulled the treaty du to violations of data protection. 

With the European bloc’s highest legal authority arguing that the standard does not adequately protect European citizen’s privacy, US companies were thus restricted in sending European user data to the US and had to rely on standard contractual clauses. 

The European Commission said that securing a new arrangement for safe transatlantic dan flows is a priority for both them and the US. Negotiations have intensified in the past months, with Meta expressing no desire or plans to withdraw from Europe.‘But the simple reality is that Meta, and many other businesses, organisations and services, rely on data transfers between the EU and the US in order to operate global services’ said a Meta spokesperson. 

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Photo Source: The New York Times