“Without the ability to transfer data across borders, the internet risks being carved up into national and regional silos, restricting the global economy and leaving citizens in different countries unable to access many of the shared services we have come to rely on,” Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of worldwide affairs, and Jennifer Newstead, the chief authorized officer, mentioned in an announcement.

The ruling, which is a report nice below the G.D.P.R., had been anticipated. Last month, Susan Li, Meta’s chief monetary officer, advised buyers that about 10 p.c of its worldwide advert income got here from advertisements delivered to Facebook customers in E.U. nations. In 2022, Meta had revenue of nearly $117 billion.

Meta and different firms are relying on a brand new knowledge settlement between the United States and the European Union to switch the one invalidated by European courts in 2020. Last 12 months, President Biden and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Union, introduced the outlines of a deal in Brussels, however the particulars are nonetheless being negotiated.

Meta faces the prospect of getting to delete huge quantities of information about Facebook customers within the European Union, mentioned Johnny Ryan, senior fellow on the Irish Council for Civil Liberties. That would current technical difficulties given the interconnected nature of web firms.

“It is hard to imagine how it can comply with this order,” mentioned Mr. Ryan, who has pushed for stronger data-protection insurance policies.

The choice in opposition to Meta comes virtually precisely on the five-year anniversary of G.D.P.R. Initially held up as a mannequin knowledge privateness regulation, many civil society teams and privateness activists have mentioned it has not fulfilled its promise due to lack of enforcement.

Much of the criticism has centered on a provision that requires regulators within the nation the place an organization has its European Union headquarters to implement the far-reaching privateness regulation. Ireland, dwelling to the regional headquarters of Meta, TikTok, Twitter, Apple and Microsoft, has confronted essentially the most scrutiny.