Meta recently announced its latest financial results and the company posted something interesting in it filings, the possibility that it may have to shut down Instagram and Facebook in Europe under certain circumstances.
In the company annual report, Meta mentioned that there could be a scenario where the company would have to shut down both FaceBook and Instagram in Europe.
This is due to data regulations in Europe which could stop Facebook and Instagram moving data on its European users to its US servers, more details on this below.
“If we are unable to transfer data between and among countries and regions in which we operate, or if we are restricted from sharing data among our products and services, it could affect our ability to provide our services, the manner in which we provide our services or our ability to target ads,” the statement reads. Then, Meta clarifies that it thinks it will be able to reach new agreements in 2022, but if it does not, “we will likely be unable to offer a number of our most significant products and services, including Facebook and Instagram, in Europe.”
The issue here is Facebook and Instagram being able to process their users data, this was originally discovered by City AM who managed to get a statement from Nick Clegg, Meta’s VP of Global Affairs and Communications ate Meta, which you can see below.
“Businesses need clear, global rules, underpinned by the strong rule of law, to protect transatlantic data flows over the long term.”
There is also a further statement from Facebook below:
“We have absolutely no desire and no 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.”
“Like other companies, we have followed European rules and rely on Standard Contractual Clauses, and appropriate data safeguards, to operate a global service.”
It would be unlikely that Facebook and Instagram would be shut down in Europe as the companies would probably come up with a way to comply with the regulations.
Source City AM
Image Credit: Lisa Fotios
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