: Meta Renews Warning to E.U. It Will Be Forced to Pull Facebook #WorldNEWS Meta Platforms Inc. has once again threatened to pull Facebook and Instagram from Europe if it is unable to keep transferring

Meta Renews Warning to E.U. It Will Be Forced to Pull Facebook #WorldNEWS
Meta Platforms Inc. has once again threatened to pull Facebook and Instagram from Europe if it is unable to keep transferring user data back to the U. S. , amid negotiations between regulators to replace a scrapped privacy pact.
European Union regulators have for months been stuck in negotiations with the U. S. to replace a transatlantic data transfer pact that thousands of companies relied on, but which got struck down by the E. U. Court of Justice in 2020 over fears citizens’ data isn’t safe once shipped to the U. S.
In its annual report published Thursday, Meta said that if it couldn’t rely on new or existing agreements—such as so-called standard contractual clauses—to shift data, then it would “likely be unable to offer a number of our most significant products and services, including Facebook and Instagram, in Europe. ”
[time-brightcove not-tgx=true]
Meta has already warned in its previous annual report that if it is not allowed to use standard contractual clauses, it would be “unable to operate” parts of its business in Europe, without naming its two key social media platforms.
“We have absolutely 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 E. U. and the U. S. in order to operate global services,” a Meta spokesman said in an emailed statement.
The latest comments highlight the increasing tension between the social media company and lawmakers over the ownership of user data. The stock suffered a 26% plunge Thursday over fears about Facebook’s outlook, which produced the biggest value wipeout in stock market history. Meta shares were up about 1. 6% in U. S. premarket trading Monday.
The European Commission said data transfer negotiations with Washington have intensified, but they “take time given also the complexity of the issues discussed and the need to strike a balance between privacy and national security,” a commission spokesperson wrote in a statement to Bloomberg on Monday.
“Only an arrangement that is fully compliant with the requirements set by the E. U. court can deliver the stability and legal certainty stakeholders expect on both sides of the Atlantic,” the spokesperson added.
Intensifying Discussions
Privacy campaigner Max Schrems has long been challenging Facebook in the Irish courts—where the social media company has its European base—arguing that E. U. citizens’ data is at risk the moment it gets transferred to the U. S.
In 2020, Facebook sought a judicial review of the Irish Data Protection Commission’s preliminary decision that the company may have to halt trans-Atlantic data transfers using standard contractual clauses.