Will Facebook and Instagram be shut down across Europe?
Instagram and Facebook may be shut down in Europe, according to a statement from parent company, Meta.
Meta’s statements come after European regulators flagged reforms to data transfer laws. The situation has similarities to Facebook's 2021 showdown with the Australian Governmernt and news organisations, which saw many news pages blocked from Facebook for several weeks.
The conflict arises from new laws that would prevent Meta from processing and storing European users' data on servers based in the United States.
Previously, the EU-US Privacy Shield allowed for the regulation of transatlantic exchanges of personal data and gave US companies a way to easily obtain and share the personal date of European entities under European privacy law. In mid-2020 however, the European Court of Justice determined the agreement to be invalid, although the decision did not halt the transfer of data while a new framework was being developed.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg claimed in the company’s annual report the ability to share data around the world is key to the operation of its services and targeted advertising. Zuckerberg warns Meta would “probably” withdraw its products and services from areas where they were not permitted to share data the way they always have.
Europe is home to approximately 309 million Facebook and 294.4 million Instragram users.
