If Meta does not get permission to transfer, store and process its European users’ data on servers in the U.S., it may have to stop offering some of its products in the EU. Meta currently uses transatlantic data transfer governed by the so-called Privacy Shield and other agreements that allow the company to store data of European users on U.S. servers. Following new EU rulings, Irish data protection authorities have questioned the agreements that allow Meta to share data across the Atlantic.
“If a new transatlantic data transfer framework is not adopted and we are unable to continue to rely on SCCs 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,” Meta wrote in its annual report released early last week.
Meta writes that they expect a final decision in the first half of 2022. The tech giant adds that a shutdown of services will affect the company’s financial situation.
It was the website City AM that broke the news on Sunday. The news ends a very tough week for Meta. A disappointing quarterly report on Thursday led the company to suffer its biggest single-day drop ever on Wall Street. After a stock plunge of more than 26 percent, about $230 billion had evaporated from the company’s market value during the trading day.
