Facebook faces a potential data blocking following the Irish ruling |
Facebook has not been able to block a European Union data protection regulation that could prevent Facebook from sending information about European users to US computer servers.
The Supreme Court of Ireland dismissed all procedural complaints on Facebook regarding the initial ruling on the data feed it received from IDPC in August.
According to the Wall Street Journal report, the Supreme Court of Ireland also rejected Facebook's allegations that the Irish Data Protection Commission did not have time to respond.
Facebook said: The Commission and other data protection authorities in the European Union acted very quickly and did not give us time to act.
She added that the Irish Data Protection Commission's confidentiality regulation would have serious implications for the European economy, but it was clear that Irish officials did not have the same concerns.
The court suspended the original decision in September pending its decision. The ruling could force the social media company to suspend the transfer of personal information of European Union users to Facebook servers in the United States.
Although the new court ruling is a procedural one, the core issues lie at the heart of the transatlantic trade and digital economy.
Legal experts stated that the basis for the temporary ban in Ireland could apply to other large tech companies subject to US surveillance laws, such as cloud services and email providers, which could lead to disruption. A large flow of data across the Atlantic.
There are billions of dollars in companies operating in cloud computing, social media, and advertising.
The Irish Data Protection Committee (IDPC) is directing enforcement of data protection laws in the European Union against Facebook and other companies based in Europe.
The Irish Data Protection Commission for the first time introduced a new data protection regulation, as Facebook and other international companies often store European Union citizens' data on US servers, which could expose them to further monitoring.
If the European Union regulator decides to support the Irish Data Protection Commission, it will be the first major action against the Privacy Shield (a protocol that enables data sharing).
The committee has not yet finalized its draft resolution ordering the suspension of data transfers and has submitted it to other data protection authorities in the European Union for approval before it enters into force.
This process may take several months to account for other legal challenges.
If the confidentiality regulation is approved, it will have a major impact on all companies doing business across the Atlantic and may force Facebook to isolate the information collected from users in the European Union or to stop providing services to these users altogether.