Meta Might Have To Shut Down Facebook And Instagram In Europe


Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, might have to stop operating Instagram and Facebook in Europe following new regulation laws.

Imagine a world in which Facebook doesn’t exist. Blissful, right? That reality may soon come to fruition if a clause from a recent Facebook report is to be believed. Meta recently published its annual report for the Securities and Exchange Commission, and it contains some very interesting points.

On page 36 of the 134 page report, it’s explained that new laws jeopardise the way in which Facebook conducts its business overseas. Currently, European user data is harvested, processed, and stored on US based servers. Previous agreements have allowed Meta to continue with its practices, but that could all be about to change.

Why could Meta remove services from Europe?

Proceedings in the Irish High Court have been ongoing for a few years now, but they heated up in May 2021. The court rejected Meta’s ongoing procedural changes that it thought would let them comply with GDPR laws. Meta expects that a final decision from this inquiry will be made in the first half of 2022.

If a mutual decision cannot be met between Meta and Europe, the company threatens that it may have to pull its services from those regions. “If a new transatlantic data transfer framework is not adopted and we are unable to continue to rely on SCCs or rely upon other alternative means of data transfers from Europe to the United States, we will likely be unable to offer a number of our most significant products and services, including Facebook and Instagram, in Europe, which would materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations,” the report reads.

My heart bleeds.

Credit: RCG Productions

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[Featured Image Credit: Meta]