The parent company of Facebook and Instagram, the Meta, threatens to shut down its European operations if EU regulators do not allow the company to share users' personal data with the United States.
Η κίνηση σχετίζεται με μια απόφαση του Δικαστηρίου της Ευρωπαϊκής Unionς, (υπόθεση Shrems II), που ανακήρυξε την κοινή χρήση data (Privacy Shield) between EU and USA, no longer legal.
Will Meta finally withdraw Facebook and Instagram from Europe?
Because Meta is threatening to withdraw them services her from Europe?
The Meta Reported that the recent changes to the Privacy Shield will radically change its business model, making it impossible to offer existing "products and services" to its European users.
Meta's main business is selling ads based on data it collects from its users. So losing this data would be extremely damaging to Meta targeted advertising.
Why is the Privacy Shield no longer legal?
In 2011, an Austrian lawyer (Maximillian Schrems) analyzed 1.222 pages of information that Facebook had for him after he requested his data from the company. He found that Facebook was keeping information that he believed he had deleted from the service as well as information that had been shared without his permission. Schrems filed a complaint with the Irish data protection agency, where Facebook is registered, for tax purposes.
In 2020 (9 years later) the EU Court of Justice found that the Privacy Shield, the law that allows US companies and authorities to collect information about EU citizens, was defective. Privacy Shield did not provide adequate protection for EU user data (in the EU, user data protection laws are much stricter than in the US) and did not provide sufficient guarantees to EU citizens on how data is used by the EU government. USA.
So as the "data transfer vehicle" or Privacy Shield is no longer legal, companies like Meta, the google, η Amazon και η Microsoft θα πρέπει να επανεξετάσουν τις ευρωπαϊκές δραστηριότητές τους. Λαμβάνοντας υπόψη ότι οι services υπολογιστικού cloud που προσφέρονται από την Google, την Amazon και τη Microsoft αποτελούν ένα τεράστιο κομμάτι του Διαδικτύου όπως το γνωρίζουμε σήμερα, η Meta δεν είναι η μόνη μεγάλη εταιρεία τεχνολογίας που αντιμετωπίζει το πρόβλημα μεταφοράς δεδομένων.
Will Meta withdraw Facebook and Instagram from Europe?
Most industry experts believe that Meta's statement is just a threat. European Union regulators have been working with their US counterparts in a months-long effort to reach a new agreement. It just hasn't passed yet.
A Meta spokesman said:
"We have absolutely no desire and no plan to leave Europe, but the reality is that Meta, and many other companies, organizations and services, rely on data transfers between the EU and the US to act as global services," he said. the company's desire to assist in the completion of the new data agreement.
In short there is no benefit to Meta leaving Europe. It would further reduce the price of its stock, would wipe billions off its value and “cut” millions of users off its services.
There is no doubt that a new Privacy Shield law will come into force soon, but it will most likely be stricter on EU citizens' data than the previous bill.
