What happened
Shares of Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META -0.28%) fell 5.1% on Monday amid a clash with European regulators.
So what
The European Union's data watchdogs want to better protect its citizens' personal information. To do so, they may require stricter controls on how the data is transferred to the U.S.
That could be a problem for Meta, which relies on that data to power its digital advertising operations -- so much so that the social media giant threatened to shut down its massively popular Facebook and Instagram sites in Europe if the issue isn't resolved.
Meta Platforms' stock price fell sharply on Monday. Image source: Getty Images.
EU regulators, for their part, seem resolved to push forward new legislation that would strengthen data protections, despite Meta's threats. European politician Axel Voss, who helped to draft the proposed rules, took to Twitter to send Meta a stern message.
"Meta cannot just blackmail the EU into giving up its data protection standards," Voss said. "Leaving the EU would be their loss."
Now what
After the market close, Meta announced that Peter Thiel would not stand for re-election from its board of directors. The billionaire investor has long served as a key advisor to founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
"Peter is truly an original thinker who you can bring your hardest problems and get unique suggestions," Zuckerberg said in a press release. "He has served on our board for almost two decades, and we've always known that at some point he would devote his time to other interests."
Thiel reportedly plans to spend more time on his political endeavors. His departure comes at a time when Facebook is struggling with intensifying competition from the likes of TikTok, slowing user growth, and rising expenses related to its metaverse initiatives.
