Meta will be unable to offer Facebook and Instagram in Europe if regulators there determine that the current legal basis used by the company for cross-border data transfers is invalid, the company said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) prescribes the grounds under which data can be transferred from the EU to a third country, and the Irish Data Protection Commission (IDPC) issued a preliminary draft decision in August 2020 stating that Facebook is not in compliance with the regulation. A final decision in this inquiry is expected in the first half of 2022, the company said. "If a new transatlantic data transfer framework is not adopted and we are unable to continue to rely on SCCs (standard contractual clauses) or rely upon other alternative means of data transfers from Europe to the United States, we will likely be unable to offer a number of our most significant products and services, including Facebook and Instagram, in Europe, which would materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations." – Meta The outcome of this issue has notable implications for India because the Data Protection Bill, 2021, which was tabled in the parliament last December, has equally stringent restrictions, if not more, on cross-border data transfers as the GDPR. How can companies transfer data from the EU to a third country and why is Facebook having trouble? According to the GDPR, data transfers from the EU to a third country are…
