Facebook has a “destructive” ban on data transfer from the EU to the new EU

The social media giant did not block an offer that could ban it from sending data about its 410 million European users to the United States.

Ireland’s data regulator could re-launch a probe that could lead to a ban on transatlantic data transfers on Facebook, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday, raising the possibility of a shutdown that warned the company would have a devastating impact on its business.

The case stems from the European Union’s concern that U.S. government surveillance would violate the privacy rights of EU citizens when their personal data is sent to the U.S. for commercial use.

The Data Protection Commission of the Republic of Ireland (DPC), Facebook’s main EU regulator, launched an investigation in August and issued a provisional order stating that Facebook’s main mechanism for transferring EU user data to the US is “in practice unusable”.

Facebook questioned both the query and the draft decision (PDD), saying it threatened “destructive” and “irreversible” consequences for its business, which is based on processing user data to target online ads.

The National Court rejected the challenge on Friday.

“I refuse all the relief the FBI is looking for [Facebook Ireland] and dismiss the claims made in the process itself, ”Judge David Barniville said in a nearly 200-page ruling.

“The FBI has not established a basis for challenging the DPC decision or the interrogation procedures approved by the PDD or DPC,” the ruling said.

Although the decision does not result in an immediate halt to data flows, Australian privacy activist Max Schrems, who has been forced by the Irish data regulator over the past eight years to take legal action, said the decision had become unavoidable.

“After eight years, the DPC should now stop Facebook-EU data transfers on Facebook, probably before the summer,” he said.

A Facebook spokesman said the company hopes to defend compliance with EU data rules, saying the Irish regulator’s interim injunction “could harm not only Facebook but also users and other businesses”.

Privileged access

If the Irish data regulator were to enforce the interim order, companies with privileged access to the US would end up with personal data from Europe and be placed on the same level as companies from other nations outside the bloc.

The mechanism that challenged the Irish regulator, the standard contract clause (SCC), was considered valid by the European Court of Justice in a July ruling.

The Court of Justice also ruled that, according to the SCC, privacy guards should suspend or ban transfers from outside the EU if data protection in other countries cannot be assured.

A Facebook lawyer in December told the High Court that the draft of the Irish regulator’s decision, if applied, would have “dire consequences” on Facebook’s business, affecting 410 million active Facebook users in Europe, striking political groups and undermining freedom of expression.

Irish Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon said in February that companies could experience major disruptions in transatlantic data flows as a result of a ruling by the European Court of Justice.

Dixon’s office welcomed the decision on Friday, but declined to comment further.