Facebook and Instagram say new changes could force them to stop working in Europe

The Irish Data Protection Commissioner had suggested that it would enforce a European Court of Justice ruling that would mean such data transfers would breach General Data Protection Regulation .

It is not clear to how, in those circumstances, it could continue to provide the Facebook and Instagram services in the EU, wrote Yvonne Cunnane, Facebook Irelands head of data protection and associate general counsel.

The above views, if adopted, are likely to have significant diverse effects on and on the many millions of individuals and businesses who use its services, it also says.

The company claims 410 million monthly active users in Europe, including charities, organisations, politicians, and other public figures.

Cunnane accused the regulators of bias against Facebook, and said that the three week time period during which the company could make submissions against the ruling will give little weight to those submissions and that they will not dislodge, or be capable of lodging, the view which has already been arrived at by the commission.

Legal documents filed with the Irish High Court set out the simple reality that Facebook, and many other businesses, organisations and services, rely on data transfers between the EU and the US in order to operate their services, the company said in a statement.

Whether or not Facebook will indeed disable its services in Europe remains to be seen, but privacy experts have alleged that it would not.

Google claims that the change would not see any difference in data protection standards, something that is rebuked by privacy activists.