Meta ‘probably’ stops Facebook in EU if US data transfers are not allowed
If Meta does not have a legal possibility to process data from European users on American servers, then Facebook and Instagram will probably no longer work in the EU. That says parent company Meta in an annual report.
The problem lies with the transatlantic data transfer frameworks such as Privacy Shield and model agreements that Meta uses or used to store data from European users on American servers. Those frameworks and agreements to enable data transfers are under pressure in the EU.
Meta, in an annual report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, warns that if a new framework is not adopted and the company is no longer allowed to use model agreements “or alternatives,” the company “probably” will lose some of its “most significant products and services.” services’, including Facebook and Instagram, can no longer offer in the EU.
Sharing data between countries and regions is crucial for the provision of its services and targeted advertising, according to Meta. Therefore, it previously used the transatlantic data transfer framework Privacy Shield as the legal basis to carry out those data transfers. This treaty was annulled by the European Court of Justice in July 2020, because it would be contrary to the GDPR. The EU and the US then announced that they wanted to work on an improved version of this.
In addition to the Privacy Shield, Meta also uses model agreements, or Standard Contractual Clauses, as a legal basis for processing data from European users on American servers. These model agreements are also under pressure. The Irish Data Protection Commission told Meta in August 2020 that it had provisionally concluded that the use of the model agreements was not in line with the GDPR. Processing the European data on American servers therefore had to be suspended by IDPC.
However, this was a preliminary conclusion. That’s why nothing has changed for Meta yet. The company went to court to stop the injunction, but the judge ruled that IDPC’s investigation could continue. Meta thinks the watchdog’s final verdict will come out “possibly in the first half of this year.” Should IDPC indeed find that the model agreements are illegal, Meta may therefore say that it may not be able to offer any or fewer services in the EU.