The giant American company, Meta, is awaiting a major European judicial decision, which will be issued within months, and may eventually lead to the closure of Facebook in the European Union.
The giant American company, Meta, is awaiting a major European judicial decision, which will be issued within months, and may eventually lead to the closure of Facebook in the European Union.
Helen Dixon, who chairs the Irish Data Protection Commission, said she would very likely make a final decision on Meta’s transfer of data from the EU to the US before Brussels and Washington reached the new agreement they were working on.
Last July, the Irish Data Protection Commission issued a draft of its decision, which required the suspension of the last legal means used by Facebook to transfer data, and it is expected that it will be approved by other similar committees in Europe and issued as a final decision in mid-May.
Family photos and consumer locating
If this were to happen, Meta, which owns Facebook, would find itself without legal grounds to transfer private European data to America, such as family photos or consumer location data.
Meta had previously said that a decision of this kind threatens to stop its services in the European Union, including Instagram.
And last February, the company suggested suspending its most prominent services in Europe if the European Commission did not adopt an appropriate decision, and if the currently approved standards were changed, or the parties did not succeed in agreeing on a new means of data transmission.
The new Irish decision would affect companies other than Meta, which is the latter transferring data from the European Union to the United States.
Ireland plays a very important role in this matter, especially since the headquarters of technology companies are located almost all on Irish soil.
On April 14, the European Data Protection Council will take a decision on the Irish Commission’s draft decision, then the decision will be up to the committee, which has one month to issue it and convert it into valid law.
New and comprehensive agreement
In tandem with the ongoing row, the European Commission is finalizing an entirely new data agreement with the United States. Observers say the two sides may reach an agreement before July.
However, this means that Facebook and Instagram are threatened to suspend their services in the period from mid-May to July.
Work on a new agreement had begun between Brussels and Washington after the European Court of Justice annulled two previous agreements due to concerns about US surveillance.
Dixon said it had no plans to roll back EU data protection and privacy law. Meta, for its part, welcomed the work that is being done on the political level in order to continue ensuring the transfer of data, and said through a spokesperson that the current dispute “is related to a historical conflict between the laws of the European Union and the United States.”
