Meta Platforms Inc has said it is considering shutting down Facebook and Instagram from Europe if it is unable to keep transferring user data back to the U.S.
European Regulators are currently drawing up new legislation that will dictate how EU citizens’ user data gets transferred across the Atlantic.
Facebook said: “If a new transatlantic data transfer framework is not adopted and we are unable to continue to rely on SCCs (standard contractual clauses) 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, including Facebook and Instagram, in Europe.”
The company added this “would materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.”
“Meta cannot just blackmail the EU into giving up its data protection standards,” European lawmaker Axel Voss said via Twitter, “leaving the EU would be their loss,” he added.
A Meta spokesperson said that the company has no desire and no plans to withdraw from Europe, “But the simple reality is that Meta, and many other businesses, organizations and services, rely on data transfers between the EU and the U.S. in order to operate global services,” he said.