With information from EFE
The French government responded this Tuesday with a “so what?” to the alleged threat of Goal, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to close its services in EU countries due to a court ruling that prevents it from transferring data from European users to its headquarters in the United States. The company ruled out this possibility.
“And that? Our only compass, the one that guides the action of the Government, the action of the European bodies, is to ensure respect for the democratic collective decisions of European citizens”, said the Secretary of State for the Digital Transition and Electronic Communications, Cédric O.
Cédric O spoke at the conference “Building European digital sovereignty”, organized in Paris in the framework of the French rotating presidency of the Council of the EU.
Among the collective decisions mentioned is “data protection and the general data protection regulation,” he stressed.
In its latest report before the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US company explained that the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) of July 16, 2020 could have consequences for your “ability to provide services”.
If we are not allowed to transfer data between countries and regions in which we operate, or if we are restricted from sharing data between our products and services, the ability to provide our services could be affected.
The fundamental reason for this possible “affectation” on its services is the difficulty that the greater privacy restrictions entail in being able to personalize “online” advertisements, which is Meta’s main source of income.
Germany joins against Meta
In his annual report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Sent last week, Meta blamed evolving laws and regulations from European courts, regulators and legislative bodies, arguing that they are affecting the company’s “critical operations”.
During a joint press conference between the finance ministers of Germany and France, the former maintained that the little use of social networks has not diminished his performance as a public official.
“After living without Facebook and Twitter for four years, my life has been great,” Robert Habeck joked.
His Gallic peer, Bruno Le Maire, seconded and said he could confirm that “life is very good without Facebook and we could live very well without it.”
“I think these big digital corporations are not used to being opposed. We do not want our personal data to be handed over to digital giants without any control”, he stressed.
Meta goes back and rules out leaving the EU
Meta has issued a statement clarifying that it “never threatened” to remove Facebook and Instagram from Europe due to problems with the data transfer law. He argues that the framework for the statements was given in his calls with investors, which are required by law to reveal their plans and concerns.
“Meta does not want or threaten to leave Europe and any reports implying that we do so are simply not true. Like 70 other companies in the European Union and the US, we are identifying a business risk resulting from the uncertainty surrounding international data transfers, “says the company in the message signed by Markus Reinisch, vice president of policies public Meta in Europe.
Source: Larepublica
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