Meta considers shutting down Facebook and Instagram in Europe

Good riddance!

Would be great if they did, some new transparent non profit making venture could take up the slack.

WhatsApp just checks your phonebook for contacts and allows you to message them. It wouldn't be difficult to replace it with another similar app.

They're all completely dispensable.

Deleted my facebook years ago and never missed it in the slightest except for those few businesses who use their facebook page as their website, in which case, bad luck to them, I bought the thing off someone else.

Whatsapp is handy but I only use it to message my family and friends directly, so any other group chat would work just as well

Facebook deliberately, and in full knowledge of what they are doing, destroy the lives of millions of people, so they can go **** themselves.

Yeah, you're the second guy to suggest an alternative messenger app, of which there is a dozen, and completely ignore the other two less replaceable platforms that thousands of businesses depend on for advertising, sales, and customer service.

The edgelords are strong in this thread.

"And my dog, will be so, so angry"

Sultans of Ping

100s of millions of people drink Coca Cola daily as well, doesn't make it an important product.

The only aspect that could be considered essential about any of these services is they offer people the ability to message others, and as mentioned there's plenty of alternatives.

All apps and platforms are replacable, and any business that solely relies on facebook for marketing and advertising is doing it wrong, or trying to manipulate peiple into buying their product through Facebook's dishonest and manipulative algorithm, so **** them too

Young people do not use Facebook, it is dieing a slow death anyway.

Viber is a direct replacement for Whatsapp.

Instagram, never used it!

It would just add to the long list: BBSes, IRC, ICQ, Compuserve, Geocities, AOL, Yahoo, Yahoo Messenger, Yahoo groups, Bebo, Webcrawer etc.

Does anyone have the breakdown of number of Irish Vs Foreign employees in the Meta/Facebook offices?

It may even help to reduce the housing crisis!

Well it's a bit silly for a randomer on the internet to be trying to slag him off for his life having no meaning. The fella started, and has managed to remain at the helm of one of the largest companies in the world. You could be philosophical and argue that it must be difficult for anything to have meaning to him, but if he packed it in tomorrow, he could do what he wants, when he wants, and where he wants. He could buy Hugh Heffner's old mansion and stock it with his own harem of playboy bunnies, or he could go saving some endangered turtle from extinction in backofbeyondland.

Nobody said removing these platforms 'wouldn't be missed'

The argument against facebook inc. is that removing these platforms would not be a net loss to the world

The same services could be provided by alternative platforms but without the negative outcomes caused by Facebook's business model and total disregard for the negative consequences their platform causes on individual, political and societal levels

Facebook threatening to withdraw from the EU in order to try to stop the introduction of regulations that would hamper their business model is why I and others are calling for the EU to agree to their offer, introduce those regulations and dare Facebook to withdraw or else allow less dangerous alternatives to take their place

That Zuckerberg is some boyo … “don’t give us what we want, well.. we’ll just take everything from you…”

he figures that Facebook is so indelibly important in most peoples lives now that if he threatens them and their governments they roll over….

the name for a person like that is a ‘bully’….and a few more adjectives…

There is enough value in Facebook's european operations that I would hope that they agree to abide by the new EU privacy regulations, this would require that facebook increases investment to meet those higher standards

That would be a win for facebook employees, EU consumers, and the stability of European democratic institutions

The alternative is caving to Facebook and screwing everyone except Facebook's billionaire owners and investors

This is just a hissy fit, nothing will happen. That said, if Facebook, Instagram and the likes disappeared overnight, it would be interesting to see the effect on society. Might be good for people, particularly the young, to not obsess over the likes of influencers lounging about in Dubai.