Meta is threatening to remove all its services from Europe in its recently-filed financial statement. The social media giant argued that European data regulations will hinder its operations, applications, and data centers.
Meta Platforms Inc, which is formerly known as Facebook Inc, is a multinational technology company that runs Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and many other subsidiaries. This makes it one of the biggest companies in the social media industry.
Meta Data Collection Issues
Unfortunately, when Meta submitted its regulatory filing and financial statement, the company encountered issues with European data regulations. Slashdot explained that Europe's Court of Justice declared void a US law called Privacy Shield, which Meta uses for data transferring processes.
The court rulings said, "with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) well in force, the U.S. Privacy Shield principles were found non-compliant and consequently invalid." This implies a breach of privacy of users' data.
Mashable further explained the situation by saying that "data regulations that prevent Meta from ingesting Europeans' data on American servers." This blocked Meta's ability to process European users' data for operations and ad targeting purposes.
Meta emphasized issues with the data-sharing agreement and eventually threatened to shut down all its services in the continent.
Meta said, "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."
In addition, the Meta filings cited hazards like "restricting Facebook's ability to collect data about minors," which will also limit their "ability to offer products and services to minors in certain jurisdictions."
Meta acknowledged that "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." Despite this, they pushed the need for their data collection procedures.
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Meta Plans for Facebook Ads in Europe
According to Mashable, CityAM tried to reach out to Meta about their financial statement. Meta Vice President for Global Affairs and Communications, Nick Clegg, responded "we urge regulators to adopt a proportionate and pragmatic approach to minimize disruption to the many thousands of businesses who, like Facebook, have been relying on these mechanisms in good faith to transfer data in a safe and secure way."
It is worth emphasizing that a lot of small businesses rely on Facebook and Instagram ads to market their services. In a way, Meta's argument holds a lot of valid points that regulators need to recognize. However, it is hard to determine if these would be enough to sway lawmaker's decision.
The situation is still progressing, so fans are recommended to watch out for updates.
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