Goalthe parent company of Facebook and Instagramthreatened to close its main social networks in the countries of the European Union (EU) because of a court ruling that prevents you from transferring data of European users to its headquarters in the United States.
In its latest report before the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company from Menlo Park (California, USA) explained that the ruling of the Court of Justice of the Union Court (CJEU) of July 16, 2020 could have consequences for your “ability to provide services”.
“If they do not allow us to transfer data between countries and regions in which we operate, or if they restrict our ability to share data between our products and services, the ability to provide our services could be affected“said the company run by Mark Zuckerberg.
This average, according to reports from Meta, could raise the closure of Facebook and Instagram servers in the Old Continent if it is not allowed to transfer, store and process the data of European citizens on servers based in the United States.
Meta threatened to shut down Facebook and Instagram servers in Europe. Photo: REUTERS.
The fundamental reason for this possible “impact” on their services is the difficulty that the largest privacy restrictions suppose to be able to personalize the online adswhich is Meta’s main source of income.
“In the worst case, this could mean that a small tech company in Germany would no longer be able to use a US-based cloud provider. A Spanish product development company would no longer be able to run a multi-time zone operation.” “, they answered from Meta in statements to the City AM media
The “privacy shield” at the center of the controversy
Specifically, the firm that until October of last year was called Facebook cited the invalidation by the European Justice of the known as “privacy shield”an agreement between the European Union and the United States so that companies can transfer user data between continents.
However, this regulation was invalidated by the CJEU in mid-2020, considering that it allowed interference in the fundamental rights of European citizens whose data is transferred to the North American country and did not grant the adequate level of guarantees that the General Data Protection Regulation (RGDP) of the European Union intends to ensure.
Under this agreement, US companies that processed personal data coming from the EU had to be registered in the system at the US Department of Commerce and respect commitments such as inform the data owner of the rightif they intended to transfer them to third parties and the reasons, or never use the data for a purpose other than the original.
Instagram, another of Meta’s services, could also be left without operating in Europe. Photo: REUTERS.
The court’s decision forces the European Commission (EC) to review the regulations, which it is working to adapt the GDPR to the specific case of the United Stateswhere a large part of the technological multinationals are located, including Meta.
The Commission is also in open negotiations with the US government to reach a new successor agreement to the “privacy shield” that complies with the court ruling, according to the latest information on its website.
With information from the EFE agency.
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