Facebook and Instagram could be shut down in Europe as Ireland's Data Protection Commission will double down on its order to stop them transferring data to America.
Parent company Meta has repeatedly threatened to cut off the sites, claiming transferring European data to the US is vital for its operations.
European authorities have ongoing privacy concerns about storing citizen's information in the US because of surveillance programmes there.
The Irish Independent's Tech Editor Adrian Weckler says the Irish Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon is taking the lead on this.
"She has sent her draft decision to other European data regulators which she is obliged to do under European law.
"They will come back within 30 days with their comments and any objections.
"Then, basically, data transfers using Facebook and Instagram will in theory be banned from the European Union to the US."
