The owner of Facebook and Instagram is facing challenges in launching its new multimodal AI model in the European Union. According to the company’s statement to the American news website Axios, unclear regulation in the EU hinders the development and implementation of AI technology.

The decision has raised concerns in the tech industry, as it could limit the availability of advanced AI models in Europe. Meta argues that European data protection laws, like GDPR, are too restrictive and make it difficult to collect and use the data needed to train AI models.

“If we don’t train our models on the public content that Europeans share on our services and others, such as public posts or comments, then models and the AI features they power won’t accurately understand important regional languages, cultures or trending topics on social media,” Meta said in a blog post.

So far, it remains unclear when Meta will be able to overcome regulatory hurdles and launch its AI model in the EU. The company is likely to face additional challenges in complying with the future AI Act.

This decision by Meta comes soon after Apple decided not to market its AI capabilities in Europe. Margrethe Vesteger, the EU competition commissioner, condemned Apple’s move, saying that the company’s decision was “the most amazing open statement that they know 100 percent that this is another way to eliminate competition where they already have a stronghold.”