Can You Imagine A Europe Without Facebook? I Can.

Facebook is threatening to cease operating in Europe unless the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) stops trying to force the company to comply with European legislation by not transferring European user data to its servers in the United States. In a court filing, the company has threatened to abandon its activities in Europe and shut down the 410 million users who use Facebook and Instagram unless the commission drops its demands.

It hardly needs saying that Facebook would never do such a thing. No company would abandon a market of this size, and besides, Facebook is perfectly able, as it does very often, to completely ignore the law, say that it will comply, and continue doing what it wants as if the rules didn’t apply to it. But the interesting question in this instance, for technology-fiction purposes, would be to speculate on what might happen if, indeed, Facebook were forced to leave Europe. I think this is a potentially very interesting scenario.

We are talking about Facebook, possibly the company that has had the most disastrous impact on the world and democracy in history. A company quite happy to sell its users’ data to the highest bidder, knowing they will bombard them with fake news from fake profiles, or even organize genocides, killings or other acts of violence. A company described by former employee Sophie Zang as having blood on its hands.

This company, which has always prioritized metrics over the welfare of its users, is now threatening to leave Europe. My question is: so what? What would happen if those 410 million users were to find, from one day to the next, that they could no longer access Facebook?

The answer is very simple: they would find any number of alternatives. Facebook is not available in China. Is that a problem? No, because people there use other platforms to keep in touch with friends and family, share content or access information. In fact, the exclusion of Facebook from China has had precisely the effect that the Chinese government wanted: to encourage the emergence of local competitors who understand the Chinese market and who are willing to kowtow to Beijing’s demands to access user information.

Here in Europe, the situation is the opposite: what the authorities want is for Facebook to stop hoovering up data from its citizens and exporting it to the United States. This is a perfectly reasonable request, one that fundamentally reflects the very important difference between data protection for users on either side of the Atlantic. Because of Facebook’s treatment of European citizens’ data, we now know, for example, that British voters were targeted by disinformation campaigns in the run-up to the 2016 referendum, as well as in the aftermath.

Less manipulation, more respect for the rules of the game, more opportunities for local entrepreneurs willing to launch social network or photo sharing services adapted to European legislation, and the data of European citizens stored on European servers. My question is… where do I sign? Facebook, please make good on your threat, close down your offices and leave Europe tomorrow. I guarantee you will not be missed.