Okay, yesterday we reported on the fact that Meta has warned there is a possibility it might need to pull Instagram and Facebook out of Europe over data privacy rules. It seems, however, that EU officials are not that intimidated by this statement, reports AppleInsider. At least two EU parliament politicians actually think it might be a good idea.
European Union politicians not intimidated by Meta’s warning it would have to shut down Facebook and Insta in Europe
Well, new data privacy rules that the European Union is working on could force Meta to not offer Facebook or Instagram services in Europe, and at least that’s reportedly what Meta has warned. Currently, European regulators are working on a new piece of legislation that would restrict how European citizen data gets transferred to the United States. As a result, Meta has issued a veiled threat that Instagram and Facebook will have to pull out from Europe if that’s the case.
Habeck reportedly stated that he has lived without Facebook and Twitter for four years, after being hacked, and “life has been fantastic”. This statement was said during an event in Paris. Additionally, Le Maire confirmed that life was “very good” without Facebook. He also added that tech giants must understand that Europe will “resist and affirm its sovereignty”.
These two comments were made in direct response to Meta’s alleged thread. More specifically, Meta says that if the legislation gets official, the company won’t be able to use existing agreements to shift data back to the United States and will likely be unable to offer “a number of our most significant products and services … in Europe.”
Facebook relies on data transfer between the EU and US to work in Europe
Habeck stated that due to the fact the European Union is a big internal market with much economic power and that if they acted in unity, they won’t be intimidated by things like that.
However, a Meta spokesperson stated that the tech giant doesn’t have any plans to pull its services from Europe so far. The spokesperson also added the company has raised similar data privacy concerns in previous filings and reports.
Well, what is the issue then? The thing is, Meta, as well as other companies, rely on data transfers between the European Union and the United States in order to grant global services to its users. The EU regulations would actually prevent such data transfer to the US (if it goes through, that is).
Meta has stated that such a change would materially and adversely affect its business and financial condition, as well as the result of operations.
Meta has been having a hard time recently
This news comes after Meta had a dramatic stock plummet by around 25%, after its report for the previous quarter. Unfortunately, the company has been having tough times earning money, and this is largely due to Apple’s App Tracking Transparency, a feature that Cupertino introduced last year. Pretty much, this feature allows users on iPhones and iPad to opt out of tracking across websites, which is done to collect data for personalized ads. And yes, this is a large part of Facebook’s business model, and it has severely impacted the social media giant. Recently, Meta said it will work on changing its ad infrastructure to try to deliver more relevant ads to users despite Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature.
