European regulators are drafting new legislation on how user data of EU citizens should be transferred across oceans, raising doubts about how multinational giants manage European data on U.S. servers. Meta, the parent company of social media Facebook, said on the 3rd that if it cannot transfer user data back to the United States, it will consider shutting down Facebook and Instagram in Europe.

Facebook said on the 3rd that “if the new transatlantic data transfer agreement is not accepted, and it cannot rely on standard personal data protection contract clauses (SCC), or other alternative ways of transferring data from Europe to the United States, it will not be able to provide the most important products in Europe. and services, including Facebook and Instagram,” will adversely affect the company’s business, financial condition and operations.

A spokesman for Meta clarified on the 7th that the company has no plans to withdraw from Europe, but previous documents raised the same concerns, “Meta and many other businesses, organizations and services rely on data transfers between the EU and the United States to operate global services.”

Interestingly, European politicians don’t care about the Meta threat. German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said that he has not used Facebook and Twitter for 4 years after being hacked, but his life is still good; French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire believes that technology giants must understand that when security threats are threatened, Europe Will resist and defend its sovereignty, “the EU has a strong economy and, if united, will not be intimidated by this threat.”

In July 2020, the EU Supreme Court ruled that data transfers between the EU and the US failed to adequately protect the privacy of European citizens. As the EU’s top court found, it has restricted the way U.S. companies can send European user data back to the U.S.