A Facebook And Instagram Shutdown Might Be Imminent In Europe After Zuckerberg Threatens To Pull 'Core Services'

Since rebranding to Meta, Facebook and Instagram have been embroiled in a multitude of issues, causing them to suffer in the eyes of many. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is under heat this week for threatening to pull "core services" from all European users in a statement released by the company on February 3rd. Being an easy meme-target already, Zuckerberg and his social media brands are now being referenced for this most recent controversy in various image macros and GIF captions across Reddit.

Within the statement from Meta, the company threatened to pull "core services" from its European users over data protection laws within the European Union (EU). This all stems from a July 2020 ruling from the European Court of Justice, which stated that the data transfer between the EU and the U.S. doesn't adequately protect European citizens' privacy.

In response to this regulation not being reversed, Meta announced this rug-pull last week, stating, "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." This would result in the overseas transferring of European data to American soil.

NEW: Mark Zuckerberg has threatened to shut down Facebook and Instagram in entire Europe if Meta is not allowed to process Europeans’ data on US servers

— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) February 7, 2022

Meta is threatening to shut down Facebook and Instagram in Europe.

This company is falling apart.

— Daily Dose (@ddofinternet) February 6, 2022

Although the headline circulated Twitter and Instagram, among others, memes referencing the shutdown en masse appeared mostly on Reddit within its most populated meme subreddits like /r/memes and /r/dankmemes. Redditors started posting content about what Europe would be like without Facebook services, most of them imagining a utopian-esque society. Others took the opportunity to dunk on Zuckerberg, likening his EU ban to a temper tantrum inspired by his user data obsession.

Using object labeling and other exploitable tactics, the memes flooded Reddit going into today, where more memes were inspired by a response from the French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire. He said in a statement this morning, "We would live very well without Facebook … I can confirm that life without Facebook is very good." German Economy Minister Robert Habeck even added, "After being hacked, I've lived without Facebook and Twitter for four years and life has been fantastic." Both of their nonchalant attitudes added to the event's meme relevancy.

With emerging controversies like the Metaverse groping problem and Mark Zuckerberg reportedly losing $29 billion after Meta's stock price crashed, a promising Q1 seems dire for the Zucc. As of right now, this Facebook Europe shutdown is still unfolding.