London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Meta threatens to pull Facebook, Instagram from EU – media

Meta threatens to pull Facebook, Instagram from EU – media

Tech giant apparently warned that bloc’s regulatory scrutiny over ‘transatlantic data transfers’ affects its ability to deliver targeted ads
Facebook and Instagram services in Europe may have to be shut down if their parent company, Meta, can’t process, store and transfer data from European users on US-based servers, the tech giant reportedly warned. A number of media outlets cited its annual filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in reporting the development.

The main sticking point for Meta is “transatlantic data transfers,” which are regulated by a number of agreements that the company uses as the legal basis for storing data from EU users on US servers. These model agreements are currently under legal and regulatory scrutiny in Europe – and could potentially “affect [Meta’s] ability to provide our services... or our ability to target ads.”

In the report, Meta stated that it would “likely” be unable to offer “a number of our most significant products and services,” including Facebook and Instagram, in Europe if a new transatlantic data transfer framework is not adopted and the firm is unable to use its current model agreements or “rely upon other alternative means.”

“Substantially all of our revenue is currently generated from third parties advertising on Facebook and Instagram,” the company noted, adding that it relied on “data signals from user activity” in order to “deliver relevant and effective ads to our users.” The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), among other rules, has impacted its “ability to use such signals in our ad products.”

Following the GDPR’s adoption, Meta added that an “increasing number of users” have opted to “control certain types of ad targeting in Europe.” It expects this trend to “increase further with expanded control over certain third-party data” as part of its compliance efforts in line with data privacy rules set out in the EU’s ePrivacy Directive.

If it does not “deliver ads in an effective manner,” Meta warned that “marketers will not continue to do business with us” or “reduce the budgets they are willing to commit to us.” The company’s adtech tools have been regularly criticized for harvesting granular data from users, allowing businesses to design “personalized” ads depending on “sensitive” criteria such as interests and demographic information.

The company previously used an EU-US data transfer agreement called Privacy Shield, which was struck down for data protection violations in 2020 by the European Court of Justice. Also that year, the Irish Data Protection Commission (IDPC) provisionally concluded that the model agreements Meta uses for data transfers – called Standard Contractual Clauses – were incompatible with EU privacy requirements set out in the GDPR.

Under European regulations, data on residents can only be transferred to a country outside the EU if that country offers sufficient protection to this information.
Comments

Oh ya 4 year ago
The EU should take that offer up without asking any questions. Just phone zucker and ask him to please hurry free the fine people of the EU. people Wil be surprised how good it is to finally be free of social media

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×