Facebook may need to stop moving European users data to US

Facebook may need to stop moving European users data to US
The social network said on Wednesday that Ireland’s Data Protection Commission has started an inquiry into how Facebook shifts data from the ecu Union to the us

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More controversy for Facebook (File Photo)
Facebook could also be forced to prevent sending data about its European users to the US, within the first major fallout from a recent court ruling that found some trans-Atlantic data transfers don’t protect users from American government snooping.

The social network said on Wednesday that Ireland’s Data Protection Commission has started an inquiry into how Facebook shifts data from the ecu Union to the us .

The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, which said Ireland’s data commission gave Facebook until mid-September to reply to a preliminary order to suspend the transfers.

The result might be that the U.S. tech giant, which has data centers round the world, is forced to undertake a costly and sophisticated revamp of its operations to make sure that European user data is kept out of the U.S.

“A lack of safe, secure and legal international data transfers would damage the economy and hamper the expansion of data-driven businesses within the EU, even as we seek recovery from COVID-19,” Facebook’s vice-president of worldwide affairs and communications, Nick Clegg, wrote during a blog post.

The Irish data commission suggested that a kind of legal mechanism governing the info transfers, referred to as standard contractual clauses, “cannot in practice be used for EU-U.S. data transfers,” Clegg said.

The commission, which didn’t reply to an invitation for comment, is Facebook’s lead privacy regulator in Europe and may fine companies up to 4 per cent of annual revenue for data breaches.

It’s the primary major move by a eu regulator after the EU’s top court issued a ruling in July on the 2 sorts of legal mechanisms wont to govern data transfers.

The European Court of Justice invalidated an agreement referred to as Privacy Shield and decided that the quality legal clauses were still OK. But in cases where there are concerns about data privacy, EU regulators should vet, and if needed block, the transfer of knowledge .

It’s the newest development during a case that originated quite seven years ago, when Max Schrems, an Austrian privacy activist, filed a complaint about the handling of his Facebook data after former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed the American government was eavesdropping on people’s online data and communications. The revelations included detail on how Facebook gave U.S. security agencies access to the private data of Europeans.

Though the case specifically targets Facebook, it could have far-reaching implications for other tech giants’ operations in Europe. In Facebook’s case, for instance , messages between Europeans would need to stay in Europe, which may be complicated and need the platform to be break up , Schrems has said.

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