Facebook Ban On Sending E.U. User Data to the U.S. Facebook is no longer allowed to send European personal data to the United States.
Irish privacy authorities have banned the Dublin-based European headquarters due to the annulment by the European Court of Justice of the data-sharing scheme known as the Privacy Shield. According to the court, personal data is less well protected in the U.S. than in Europe.
MEP Kim van Sparrentak (GroenLinks) calls the decision of the Irish authorities “a gigantic victory for our privacy”. “It is the first time since the Court’s ruling that authority has taken action, but other tech giants can probably get their heads wet too.”
The case centred on a complaint from Austrian privacy activist Maximilian Schrems about Facebook Ireland. Schrems had complained to the Irish Data Protection Authority (DPC) about Facebook Ireland’s transfer of personal data to its parent company Facebook Inc. in the U.S.
He wondered whether they were sufficiently protected in the U.S. DPC asked the Irish court for advice, which then turned to the E.U. court. That ruled in July that Schrems is right. Schrems also won a similar case in 2015. Then the judge destroyed the so-called Safe Harbor Program, the predecessor of Privacy Shield.
The European Commission is already in talks with the U.S. authorities about better privacy protection.
However, according to Commissioner Didier Reynders (Justice and Consumers), it may take time to find a legal solution following the annulment of Privacy Shield, he said last week in the European Parliament.