Are we near the end of Facebook and Instagram in Europe?

Meta has recently warned that it is considering shutting down Facebook and Instagram in Europe, however some European Parliament officials believe that such a move might be for the better. This change would have to come due to new regulations being drafted by European regulators regarding the privacy of European citizens' data, leading to a restriction of their transfer to the United States of America.

On the other hand, many European Parliament officials, such as the French and German Ministers of Finance, are not at all afraid of this prospect and the departure of these two major social networking platforms from Europe. They argue that this can actually have a positive effect, based on their relevant personal experience.

However, Meta representatives state that they do not plan to withdraw their services from Europe at the moment, as such a move would bring significant negative changes on the company's operations and finances. Similar concerns have been raised in the past, but the restrictions have not been implemented.

Meta has been struggling more

According to the report on the course of Meta shares in the last quarter, a big drop of 25% has been observed. The company is having a harder time lately, because of last year's Apple’s Operating Systems feature called App Tracking Transparency. This allows iPhone and iPad users to opt out of the tracking process of the websites they visit, normally done for the collection of data for the promotion of personalized ads, and is an important part of Facebook's operation; therefore, this new feature has severely affected the platform. Meta will therefore need to work further in order to manage the related difficulties that have arisen.