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Meta Warns to shut down Facebook and Instagram in Europe over data-sharing Issue

TPUwebTeam
By TPUwebTeam
BusinessNewsSci & Tech

Meta said it was considering shutting down Facebook and Instagram in Europe if it could not continue to transfer user information back to the U.S.

The social media giant issued the warning in its annual report last Thursday.

Regulators in Europe are currently drafting a new law that will determine how user data for EU citizens is transferred across the Atlantic.

Facebook said: “If a new transatlantic data transfer framework is adopted and we can continue to rely on SCCs (standard contract categories) or rely on other means to transfer data from Europe to the United States, we will probably not be able to provide our most important products and services , which includes Facebook and Instagram, in Europe. “

The company added that this would “adversely affect our business, financial situation, and the consequences of our operations.”

“Meta cannot simply blame the EU for abandoning its data protection standards,” European ambassador Axel Voss tweeted, adding that “leaving the EU would be their loss.” Voss has written some EU data protection laws.

A Meta spokesman told CNBC on Monday that the company had no desire and no plans to withdraw from Europe, adding that it had raised similar concerns in previous submissions.

“But the simple fact is that Meta, and many other businesses, organizations and services, rely on data transfer between the EU and the US to operate global services,” they said.

The European Commission did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

In August 2020, the Irish Defense Commission sent Facebook a first order to stop the transfer of user information from the EU to the US, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal citing sources familiar with the matter.

“The Irish Data Protection Commission has launched an investigation into the EU-US data transfer by Facebook, and has suggested that SCCs could not be used for EU-US data transfer,” said Nick Clegg, Facebook vice president of news. global and communications. in the blog post at the time.

“While this approach is subject to additional procedures, if followed, it could have a significant impact on businesses that rely on SCCs and online services that many people and businesses rely on,” he added.

The Irish Data Protection Commission is expected to issue a final decision in the first half of 2022.

If SCCs cannot be used as a legal basis for data transfer, Facebook will need to release more data to European users. The DPC could fine Facebook up to 4% of its annual revenue, or $ 2.8 billion if it fails to comply.
Court decision

In July 2020, the European Court of Justice ruled that the rate of data transfer between the EU and the U.S. does not adequately protect the privacy of European citizens.

The court, the EU’s top legal authority, has limited the number of US companies that can send European user data to the U.S. after concluding that EU citizens did not have an effective way to challenge US government surveillance.

U.S. agencies such as the NSA can ask online companies such as Facebook and Google to provide data on EU citizenship and that EU citizens will not be smart.

The ECJ’s decision came after Austrian intelligence activist Max Schrems filed a lawsuit over Edward Snowden’s revelations stating that US law did not provide adequate protection by public officials. Schrems has lodged a complaint with Facebook that, like many other firms, was transferring its data and that of other users to the U.S.

The court decision makes the EU-U.S. Protective Privacy Agreement, which allows firms to export EU citizen data across the Atlantic. As a result, companies have had to rely on SCCs.

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