FB is already in a shitstorm of bad PR.

They have a very easy choice actually. Either abide by the rules if they want to service EU citizens, or GTFO. If they want to give up a couple hundred million users and hand them over to the GDPR-compliant competition, that's their choice. It would be monumentally stupid, though. FB needs EU users a lot more than EU users need FB, but they're trying very hard to spin the press to make it appear the other way around.

It's like when McDonalds or a similar tax-dodging company threatens to leave a country if they face being forced to actually pay the taxes they owe. Leave millions and millions in profit right there on the table for their competitors to grab? Yeah right, ain't gonna happen.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8327185.stm - McDonalds pulled out of Iceland when it became to expensive. I wonder if the EU is going to price itself out of international technology. The affect would be less than ideal for a continent that preaches globalization

They pulled out of one of the smallest markets they could find, as a PR move to "show that they mean business". They had three restaurants in the entire country, and they pulled out because of the financial crisis, not because of taxes. That's hardly a sign that they would pull out of France, Germany or even Denmark.

If by "international technology" you mean "blatant disregard for privacy", then good riddance. We don't need that sort of "technology".

If McDonalds were to pull out of France there would be quite a few happy French people.

Absolutely. I would not miss them at all here in Denmark, either. We have so many better cafés and fast food restaurants. We absolutely would not miss their bland junk.

I am not sure if losing Facebook access counts as losing any kind of "technology". They cannot block the use of their FOSS code in Europe, isn't?

I am not sure the impact of closing their offices in Europe, though I am sure their the most interesting work is done in USA.

I agree that Facebook isn't really "technology" and that losing it would probably be a net positive. I am worried that Europe will set a precedent that will discourage internet technologies from doing business in Europe disconnecting them from the world.

If American tech companies ever pull out of Europe, other startups will quickly fill the void. After all, it's not like the technology isn't available in Europe. Somebody just needs to build a product using it.

That would be great for diversity, not to mention provide a fertile playground for much-needed alternatives. Too bad it probably won't happen.

Why are you worried about that? It would only impact tech that depends on privacy violation and tracking.

Good riddance, I say.

They can't force Facebook to provide any service, but they can present them with an ultimatum: decouple use of the platform from consent for use of personal data for tracking, don't offer said service, or pay a fine.

FB has a European HQ.