Meta could be forced to withdraw Facebook and Instagram from Europe

Social networking giant Meta might have to shut down the services of Instagram and Facebook in Europe due to certain issues related to data processing. The steps will have to be taken if the company is not allowed to process data from the European users on the U.S. based servers. The new change is currently under the scrutiny of the regulator. As per the current agreements, the social networking giant can process data of the European users in the United States but the policies about the data transfers continues to remain under review by the European Union and that could be changed.

As per the EU-US privacy Shield the transatlantic exchanges that involved the regulation of personal data. It had allowed the U.S. based companies to more easily receive the personal data of the EU entities as per the EU privacy law. It was in July 2020 when the European Court of Justice had declared the agreement has invalid but even then the transfer of data was not stopped while the new framework was in development. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta during its annual report has warned that if the new framework that was being developed did not allow the company to make use of the model agreements or did not provide a similar alternative, then it would no longer will be able to provide its services and products in the region.

Meta expressed that the sharing of data between the countries was important as well as critical to keep their services rolling and was also important for targeted advertising operational. Meta has said that if the data transfer between the regions is stopped then it will be forced to shut down Instagram and Facebook in Europe.

Reports have also said that Meta does not intend to pull out from Europe but given the circumstances, it could be forced to take such steps as the services completely rely on the data transfers between EU and the U.S.

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