Meta Threatens to Deny Access to Instagram and Facebook in Europe

Liam Alexander 07 Feb 2022

The operation of Instagram and Facebook in Europe seems to be in danger, as the Meta company tries to settle its issues with the EU regulators. Previously known as Facebook, Meta threatens to shut down the social media platform in the EU if they are not allowed to process personal user data in the US and Europe. The information comes directly from a report to the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States.

According to the company, data processing is essential to the operations performed by Meta and proper ad targeting. If a company cannot transfer data between different regions and countries, this will inevitably affect the services that it provides.

The main issue has to do with the requirements of the EU law. According to this law, the data of individuals should be processed only on servers that are located in Europe. Previously, there have been agreements on data sharing between the EU and the US, but now that they are deemed insufficient, the practice will be considered illegal.

The hope of Meta is to conclude a new agreement this year, but the company is apprehensive that this may not happen. According to the statement provided by the company, if the situation doesn’t change, they won’t be able to provide a range of important services and products in Europe and this includes Instagram and Facebook. As a result, the company will experience serious financial losses and negative affect on their business.

At the moment, it seems highly unlikely that the company would make such a decision regardless of the regulators’ requirements. It seems that the threat from Meta is just an attempt to make regulators reconsider their rules.

What do you think about this situation? Please do not hesitate to express your views in the comment section at the bottom.