Yahoo Finance Facebook appeals order to curb data transfers between Europe and US
Facebook is seeking a judicial review of Ireland’s plans to block the social network from sending data about its users in the European Union back to the United States.
The Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC), which regulates the world’s biggest tech companies, sent the order to the social media giant this week following a landmark ruling by Europe’s top court this summer.
The European Court of Justice ruled that the Privacy Shield agreement broke EU law because it exposes European citizens to United States government surveillance, which is "not limited to what is strictly necessary" and lacks adequate safeguards.
The court did leave companies an escape hatch by declining to invalidate another international transfer mechanism known as "Standard Contractual Clauses." However, the DPC rules that these clauses cannot in practice be used for EU-US data transfers.
“A lack of safe, secure and legal international data transfers would have damaging consequences for the European economy,” the company said in a statement reported by Bloomberg.
“We urge regulators to adopt a pragmatic and proportionate approach until a sustainable long-term solution can be reached.”
The Irish regulator’s decision is an initial ruling and will still need the backing of other European data watchdogs. In July, the Irish DPC described the use of SCCs for transfers as “questionable”.
The European court’s decision has made the transfer of data to the US considerably more difficult for tech companies. The CJEU ruling effectively stipulated that European user data must be protected in the same way when it enters the US. The ramifications of the ruling is still being thrashed out by regulators and tech companies alike.
While the DPC’s ruling is specific to Facebook, it is expected to have widespread effect on how tech companies are treated when transferring data.
The Wall Street Journal reported that other companies subjected to US surveillance laws could be bit by a similar order to the one levelled at Facebook.
The DPC had yet to respond to a request for comment from the Telegraph at the time of writing.
