Due to the use of user privacy, Meta recently launchedThreads serviceIt cannot be used in most European countries, so many users in the EU have started to use VPN to connect, but Meta later confirmedRestrictions on VPN use have been initiated.
Meta later stated that Europe remains an important development market for it, but considering the EU's regulations on user privacy, the Threads service is currently not available in most European countries and regions, and users are also restricted from connecting to the Threads service through VPN.
Prior to this, Meta had been found by EU regulators to have violated the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and was fined 3.9 million euros (approximately US$4.25 million, NT$132.14 billion) because Meta's personalized advertising content could not prove that it accessed user privacy data within a reasonable range.
Meta requires users to agree to terms related to personalized advertising before they can use services such as Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp. The EU believes that Meta's design violates freedom of use, and the requirement to accept the condition of providing personal privacy for advertising also violates the General Data Protection Regulation.
According to the EU's opinion, Meta must prove that users voluntarily agree to provide private data before it can use the privacy provided by users for advertising business. However, Meta believes that it is not easy to prove that users voluntarily provide personal privacy rather than being forced to do so. Therefore, at this stage, it has taken measures to restrict users within the EU from using the Threads service to avoid violating relevant EU regulations.
