Facebook has threatened to cease its services if European regulators do not back down and let the social network operate according to its liking.
The company's response is in reference to a preliminary order handed down last month by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission that instructed Facebook to suspend transfers to the United States of data about users in the European Union.
Facebook said the Irish Data Protection Commission, the social network’s lead regulator in the EU, had “commenced an inquiry into Facebook controlled EU-US data transfers, and has suggested that SCCs cannot in practice be used for EU-US data transfers”.
In a court filing in Dublin, Facebook said that a decision by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) would force the company to pull up stakes and suspend the service to 410 million people who use its social media platforms.
If the decision is sustained, “it is not clear to [Facebook] how, in those circumstances, it could continue to provide the Facebook and Instagram services in the EU,” Yvonne Cunnane, who is Facebook Ireland’s head of data protection and associate general counsel, wrote in a sworn affidavit.
According to Cunnane, the company was given only three weeks to respond to the decision, adding that Facebook was not contacted about the inquiry prior to judgment being handed down.
She also raises concerns about the decision single-handedly being made by Helen Dixon, Ireland’s data protection commissioner.
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“The fact one person is responsible for the entire process is relevant to [Facebook’s] concerns, in respect of the inadequacy of the investigative process engaged in and independence of the ultimate decision-making process,” Cunnane wrote.
Further, Cunnan also raised objection against being singled out, pointing out that no other big tech company using similar methods to transfer data to the US from the EU is under the same scrutiny.
“This gives rise to an apprehension that [Facebook] is not being treated equally,” Cullinane wrote.
“If [Facebook] alone is being investigated and subject to a suspension of data transfers to the US, this would be liable to create a serious distortion of competition.”
“Facebook is not threatening to withdraw from Europe,” a Facebook spokesperson said, adding that the court filing simply lays out how “Facebook, and many other businesses, organisations, and services, rely on data transfers between the EU and the US in order to operate their services.”
Cunnane also points out that the company not only provides people a platform to express their views but also reportedly generated €208 billion in sales for companies who use the platforms.
The transatlantic argument stems from EU concerns that the surveillance regime in the United States may not respect the privacy rights of EU citizens when their personal data is sent to the United States for commercial use.
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The growing pressure from the EU regulator is also due to disinformation and conspiracy theories that are being surfaced on the platforms, which is being used to influence the results of votes across the region, including the UK’s decision to leave the EU.
“The idea that Facebook would withdraw from the European market is absurd brinksmanship that I don’t think anyone truly believes,” Michael Veale, a technology policy researcher at University College London, told VICE News.
The social media network’s entire business model relies on being able to easily and quickly transfer data across the globe so that it can better target users with ads.
By disrupting that flow of data, the EU is threatening Facebook’s revenue potential.
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