Let’s start at the beginning: in 2020, the European Union, through its highest court, ordered all technology companies outside that region, including Facebook, that the data transfer system they use between servers in the United States and Europe is not valid and that they must establish a new one that does not compromise the security of people’s data. The sentence was recognized asSchrems II“.
The novelty is that Meta, in a document submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the United States, says that the ruling in Europe is a problem for its social networks and that may compromise the operation of Facebook and Instagram in that region.
That is, it tells you something like: complying with Schrems II is not possible, to do so, we should “close” Facebook and Instagram in Europe. Do you want that?
In the text before the SEC, Meta emphasizes the relevance of Privacy Shield, the privacy shield that is the focus of the problem and that is the one used today to transfer the information of users from the European Union to the United States. Strictly speaking, it does so from all over the world, including Latin America, to its central servers.
Meta also says that other protocols it uses for data transfer, such as so-called standard contractual clauses, have been reviewed and approved in previous judicial instances.
Facebook says in the SEC filing: “If a new framework for transatlantic information transfers is not adopted and we cannot continue to use standard contractual clauses or other alternative ways of transferring information from the EU to the US, it may not be possible to continue offering several of our most relevant products and services, such as Facebook and Instagram, in Europe.”
And he adds: this “would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.”
Why Facebook insists on sending data from Europe to the United States: advertising
In the presentation before the SEC, Facebook makes it clear that the problem of the restrictions imposed by Europe is related with advertising and ad targeting.
“If we are unable to transfer data between countries and regions in which we are operating with our social networks or if the ability to share information between our products and services is restricted, this will affect our abilities to provide service and our abilities to target advertisements, which will have a negative impact on our financial results”, explains Meta very clearly.
Meta is not alone in this.
Last month, Austria’s data protection authority ruled that Google Analytics operates illegally in that country because it violates data transfer rules between the EU and the US.