Meta threatens to shut down Facebook, Instagram in Europe over ban on data transfer

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has threatened to shut down its social media platforms Facebook and Instagram in Europe if it wasn’t allowed data transfer to American servers. In its annual report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the parent company of Facebook made the declaration condemning the rules and regulations of European regulators that prohibited the firm from storing the European data on American servers for security reasons. Meta lambasted the European courts and legislative bodies in its annual earnings report. stressing that European laws were impacting its “critical operations” and that it would close the company down in the entire region. 

EU's GDPR law may levy heavy penalties on Meta for violating privacy & security standards

Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law, apparently the world’s toughest privacy and security law, imposes a set of obligations onto the foreign organisations that target or collect data related to EU citizens. GDPR law would levy a heavy fine on Meta for violating its privacy and security standards if it diverts EU customer data on international US servers. Monetary penalties can shoot up to tens of millions of euros.

The law safeguards information of the European clients entrusting their personal data with cloud services to deter breaches and is an extension of the European Data Protection Directive. The EU declared that it needed “a comprehensive approach on personal data protection” and work began to update the 1995 directive after a Google user sued Meta, then known as Facebook for scanning her emails in 2006 without authorization. The GDPR law entered into force in 2016 and was passed in the European Parliament on May 25, 2018. 

Now, Meta has been threatening Europe of removing all its services in its recently-filed financial statement in Feb, stating that the tough compliance of the European data regulations has been hindering its operations, applications, and services across data centers. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reacted strongly to the EU’s policy after Europe's Court of Justice declared void a US law Privacy Shield, a mechanism which enabled Meta to conduct the data transfer processes. 

Such data transfers from the European Union to the United States “cannot in practice be used,” the Data Protection Commission had told Meta, while the latter cited the Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) in a blog post. “We will continue to transfer data in compliance with the recent CJEU ruling and until we receive further guidance,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg had stressed. It was then reported first by WSJ that the Commission sent Meta a preliminary order to suspend all such data transfers to the United States with immediate effect linked with users in the European Union. 

“With the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) well in force, the US Privacy Shield principles were found non-compliant and consequently invalid. This implies a breach of privacy of users' data,” a court ruling read. Meta, meanwhile, responded: "If a new transatlantic data transfer framework is not adopted and we are unable to continue to rely on Standard Contractual Clauses [now also subject to new judicial scrutiny] 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,” according to Mashable.

Meta in its filings also listed the hazards of so-called "restricting Facebook's ability to collect data about minors," by the EU which will also limit their "ability to offer products and services to minors in certain jurisdictions.” The company further emphasised, “We are, and expect to continue to be, the subject of investigations, inquiries, data requests, requests for information, actions, and audits by government authorities and regulators."