It is not the first time that the company behind, among others, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram has made such a sound. In 2020, Facebook was told by privacy regulators in Ireland that it can no longer use standard contractual clauses to comply with privacy rules when sending data to the US.
The Irish authorities had banned Facebook because of the annulment by the European Court of Justice of the regulation on data exchange, the so-called Privacy Shield. According to the court, personal data is less well protected in the US than in Europe. Facebook immediately warned that stopping transatlantic data transfers could have a devastating impact on the company. The company relies on the processing of user data to provide targeted online advertisements.
An investigation is currently still being carried out by the Irish data regulator. Meta is therefore still waiting for a final decision in the case. That may come in the first half of this year. In that context, the US company is now warning that if a good solution is not found, “we probably won’t be able to offer some of our core products and services, including Facebook and Instagram, in Europe”.
The case started several years ago with a complaint from Austrian privacy activist Maximilian Schrems about Facebook Ireland, the company’s European headquarters. Schrems had complained to the Irish data protection authority about Facebook Ireland’s transfer of personal data to its parent company in the US. He wondered whether they were sufficiently protected in the US.