MetaFacebook threatened to close down Instagram Europe and Instagram Europe if the company doesn’t stop transferring users data to the U.S.

In its warning, the social media giant Facebook annual report last Thursday.

Current legislation is being developed by European regulators to control how EU citizens’ personal data are transferred over the Atlantic.

Facebook stated that “If we fail to adopt a transatlantic data transfer structure and are unable rely on SCCs or other alternatives for data transfers from Europe and the United States, then we may not be able to offer many of our most important products and services in Europe, such as Facebook and Instagram.”

“This would materially and adversely effect our business and financial condition and results of operation,” said the company.

CNBC did not receive a response from Meta or the European Commission.

According to a, the Protection Commission of Ireland sent Facebook in August 2020 a preliminary order directing it to cease transferring EU user data to the U.S. report from The Wall Street JournalThe sources were familiar with this matter.

“The Irish Data Protection Commission initiated an inquiry into Facebook-controlled EU-US Data Transfers, and suggested that SCCs could not in practice be used to transfer EU-US Data,” Nick Clegg (Facebook’s vice-president of global affairs, communications) stated in a blog postIt was at that time.

He said that while this process is still in development, it can have an impact on companies that depend on SCCs as well as on many online services businesses and individuals rely upon.

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission expects to make a decision by the end of 2022.

Facebook could not use SCCs to transfer data if it doesn’t have the legal basis. Instead, Facebook would need to isolate the majority of data it has on European users. Facebook could be fined up to 4 percent of its annual revenues or $2.8billion if it fails to comply.

The following is the July 2020 edition European Court of Justice ruled the data transfer standard between the EU and the U.S. doesn’t adequately protect European citizens’ privacy.

The court, the EU’s highest legal authority, restricted how U.S. firms could send European user data to the U.S. after concluding EU citizens had no effective way to challenge American government surveillance.

U.S. authorities such as the NSA may theoretically ask internet companies, like Facebook or Google, to provide data on EU citizens. The EU citizen would not be the wiser.

After Max Schrems, an Austrian privacy activist and plaintiff in a case brought by Edward Snowden revealed that U.S. law didn’t provide sufficient protection from surveillance by the public authorities, the ECJ ruled. Schrems brought the case against Facebook for, among other companies, transferring user data to the U.S.

This court decision invalidated the EU/U.S. Privacy Shield Agreement, which allowed firms to transmit EU citizens’ data across the Atlantic. Companies have been forced to trust SCCs.