The IT Nerd

Meta/Facebook is doing the baby throwing a tantrum and throwing its toys out of the stroller routine because they may not be able to shuffle data back and forth between their US servers and European customers. Thus they would have to pull out of Europe. Here’s the details:

If Meta is not given the option to transfer, store and process data from its European users on US-based servers, Facebook and Instagram may be shut down across Europe, the social media giants’ owner reportedly warned in its annual report. The key issue for Meta is transatlantic data transfers, regulated via the so-called Privacy Shield and other model agreements that Meta uses or used to store data from European users on American servers. The current agreements to enable data transfers are currently under heavy scrutiny in the EU. In its annual report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Meta warns that if a new framework is not adopted and the company is no longer allowed to use the current model agreements “or alternatives,” the company will “probably” no longer be able to offer many of its “most significant products and services,” including Facebook and Instagram, in the EU, according to various media reports, including in iTWire, The Guardian newspaper and Side Line Magazine.

Sharing data between countries and regions is crucial for the provision of its services and targeted advertising, Meta stressed. Therefore, it previously used the transatlantic data transfer framework called Privacy Shield as the legal basis to carry out those data transfers. However, this treaty was annulled by the European Court of Justice in July 2020, because of data protection violations. Since then, the EU and the US did stress they are working on a new or updated version of the treaty.

Now to be clear, this is all about Meta/Facebook being able to do targeted advertising. After all, that’s how they make most of their money. And the fact that they are willing to go nuclear if they don’t get their way is perhaps a sign that all is not well with Meta/Facebook as evidenced by their earnings flop that they reported last week. I for one will be interested to see if the EU tells them where to go and how to get there, and if Meta/Facebook follows through on this threat.

This entry was posted on February 7, 2022 at 10:09 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Facebook. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.