Facebook, which has 410 million users in Europe, has said it will have to withdraw its services if the EU completely suspends data transfers to the US. Facebook, in a court filing in Dublin, noted that the decision by Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) would force the company to withdraw services leaving people who use Facebook and Instagram in the lurch.
An affidavit filed by Facebook's Head of Data Protection, Ireland, Yvonne Cunnane, read: "In the event that the Applicant [Facebook] were subject to a complete suspension of the transfer of users' data to the US, as appears to what the DPC proposes, it is not clear to the applicant how, in those circumstances, it could continue to provide the Facebook and Instagram services in the EU." The court filing was first obtained by The Vice.
A Facebook spokesman in a statement said that this does not constitute a threat to withdraw from the EU.
