The parent company of Facebook and Instagram, the Meta, is threatening to shut down its European operations if EU regulators do not allow the company to share the privacy of users with the United States.
The move is related to a decision of its Court Europeanof the Union, (Shrems II case), which declared the sharing of data (Privacy Shield) between the EU and the US, 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 ότι οι πρόσφατες αλλαγές στο Privacy Shield θα αλλάξουν ριζικά το επιχειρηματικό της μοντέλο, καθιστώντας αδύνατη την προσφορά των υφιστάμενων "προϊόντων και υπηρεσιών" στους Ευρωπαίους χρήστες της.
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 about him, after requesting his data from the company. He found that Facebook was holding information that he believed he had deleted from the service as well as information that had been disclosed without his permission. Schrems has filed a complaint with the Irish Data Protection Company, 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.
Έτσι καθώς το "όχημα μεταφοράς δεδομένων" ή Privacy Shield δεν είναι πλέον νόμιμο, εταιρείες όπως η Meta, η Google, η Amazon και η Microsoft they should review their European activities. Considering that cloud computing services offered by Google, Amazon, and Microsoft make up a huge chunk of the Internet as we know it today, Meta isn't the only big tech company facing the data transfer problem.
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:
"Δεν έχουμε καμία απολύτως επιθυμία και κανένα σχέδιο αποχώρησης από την Ευρώπη, αλλά η πραγματικότητα είναι ότι η Meta, και πολλές άλλες businesses, οργανισμοί και υπηρεσίες, βασίζονται στις διαβιβάσεις δεδομένων μεταξύ της ΕΕ και της ΗΠΑ προκειμένου να λειτουργούν σαν παγκόσμιες υπηρεσίες", επαναλαμβάνοντας την επιθυμία της εταιρείας να βοηθήσει στην ολοκλήρωση της νέας συμφωνίας δεδομένων.
Με λίγα λόγια δεν υπάρχει κάποιο όφελος για την αποχώρηση της Meta από την Ευρώπη. Θα μείωνε επιπλέον την τιμή της μετοχής της, θα εξαφάνιζε δισεκατομμύρια από την αξία της και θα "έκοβε" εκατομμύρια χρήστες από τις υπηρεσίες της.
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.
