CNBC reports that Meta has warned Europe that it could lose access to Facebook and Instagram if the company doesn't have access to user data.
On February 3, Meta issued the warning along with the company's annual report.
In Europe, regulators have proposed new legislation that would change the way EU citizen data can be transferred across the Atlantic.
“If a new transatlantic data transfer framework is not adopted and we cannot continue to rely on SCCs (standard contractual clauses) or rely on other alternative means of data transfer from Europe to the United States, we may not be able to offer some of our most important products and services, including Facebook and Instagram, in Europe ,” according to Facebook's annual report, via CNBC.
CNBC reports that lawmakers in the European Union have responded to the apparent threat from Meta:
On Twitter, European lawmaker Axel Voss said "leaving the EU would be a loss for them."
"Meta cannot simply blackmail the EU into giving up its data protection standards," says Axel Voss, a German lawyer and politician, via the social network Twitter.
In July 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that the privacy of European citizens is not adequately protected under the current data transfer standard.
The court found that EU citizens have no effective way to challenge or avoid US government surveillance.
