Facebook faces ‘devastating’ EU-to-US data transfer ban

The social media giant failed to block a bid that could ban it from sending data about its 410 million European users to the United States.

Ireland’s data regulator can resume a probe that may trigger a ban on Facebook’s transatlantic data transfers, the High Court ruled on Friday, raising the prospect of a stoppage that the company warns would have a devastating impact on its business. The case stems from European Union concerns that United States government surveillance may not respect the privacy rights of EU citizens when their personal data is sent to the US for commercial use. The Republic of Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC), Facebook’s lead regulator in the EU, launched an inquiry in August and issued a provisional order that the main mechanism Facebook uses to transfer EU user data to the US “cannot in practice be used”.