(CNBC) Meta has said it will cut off European users from Facebook and Instagram if its regulators block the transfer of data to the US.
Meta says the block could occur if a new transatlantic data transfer protocol is not adopted and the company is unable to apply the standard contractual clauses of alternative ways of data transfer from Europe to the US.
Meta expects any block of its major products and services in Europe to materially affect its business and financial performance.
The potential action by Meta comes when European regulators are currently drawing up rules for transfers of data of its citizens across the Atlantic.
The move by the European regulators follows a July 2020 assertion by the European Court of Justice that the existing data transfer standards did not sufficiently uphold its citizens’ privacy.
The Ireland Protection Commission also ordered Meta, in August 2020, to stop data transfers of the EU users to the US, with the final decision expected in the first half of this year.
FB: NASDAQ is down -2.27%.
