Facebook and Instagram may be shut down across Europe, parent company Meta has said.
The issue comes down to European data regulations that prevent Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, from transferring, storing and processing Europeans’ data on US-based servers.
European leaders, however, have embraced Meta's warning.
“After I was hacked I have lived without Facebook and Twitter for four years and life has been fantastic," Germany’s new economy minister Robert Habeck told reporters during a meeting in Paris on Monday.
Speaking alongside his German colleague, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire added: “I can confirm that life would be very good without Facebook and that we would live very well without Facebook”.
What is the data dispute about?
Meta could previously use a data transfer framework called Privacy Shield as the legal basis to carry out transatlantic data transfers.
But In July 2020, the European Court of Justice annulled the treaty due to violations of data protection. The bloc's highest legal authority argued the standard does not adequately protect European citizens’ privacy.
As a result, US companies were restricted in sending European user data to the US and have had to rely on SCCs (standard contractual clauses).
The EU and US have said they are working on a new or updated version of the treaty.