Facebook Threatens to Quit Europe Over Data Privacy Ban

For many photographers and videographers, social media is a great way to not only present their work, but also to communicate with current and potential clients. Instagram individually is the largest photo-sharing site in the world, and what happens to these platforms has far-reaching implications for our industry. 

The EU has been quite concerned about how data is managed and shared from European countries. This is why GDPR regulations were introduced in May 2018. Since then, companies have been scrambling to try to keep up to date, and large data-sharing organizations have seemingly struggled to keep up. 

At this stage, it is unlikely that Facebook will quit Europe; however, Facebook has described that they may be incapable of providing a service based on some of the regulations. 

For creatives, this could be a huge blow, especially because of how important Instagram has become. Not being able to effectively use the platforms prevents many kinds of marketing strategies. A lot of wedding photographers, for example, use Facebook and Instagram to market their services and to keep in contact with the families they work with. 

I myself have managed to gain contracts and commissions via Instagram, so the value these platforms offer is more than just followers and likes. For this reason, if Facebook as a whole does quit Europe, the implications could be severe on both sides of the Atlantic. 

The video linked above discusses the issue in more detail.