For the preceding two weeks , US official have beengrillingTikTok and other China - establish technical school giants over likely concerns surrounding the data security system of Americans who use these apps , not to mention the national security implications of these apps’alleged allegianceto the Chinese government . Now , it ’s look like the tech heavyweight based on American dirt are have that same level of examination lob justly back in their direction .

Earlier today , the Court Justice of the European Union — the authorityresponsiblefor ensure the EU ’s law are equally applied across its twenty - seven fellow member countries — hit downthe long - running principle that allowed American tech fellowship like Facebook and Google to freely process and store any data point from the EU using their US - establish servers . The abstract thought behind the unexampled ruling , ironically enough , is close to a word - for - word transcript of the same variety of politics surveillance anxieties ring the alien app crackdown currently being contemplated in the US .

Reading through the opinion , the Court explains that they first caught hint of these issues thanks to a lawsuit filed back in 2015 . That year , an Austrian named Maximillian Schrem lodged a complaint with local authority on the yard that the data from his Facebook account was largely being processed and stored by Facebook server in the US , with no way to actually choose - out of this form of data - storage . And he was right : since its inception Facebook ’s been building upoodlesof data mall across the US , require up dozens of buildings andthousandsof hearty feet a pappa . In comparison , the company onlybuilt outits first EU - based datum center in Sweden back in 2013 , and only depart building out its second afull yearafter Schrem ’s suit went through . Their third EU - based shopping centre is only going to bebuilt outto be dealings - quick in 2021 .

Photo: Tolga Akmen (Getty Images)

According to the docket , Scherm ’s biggest gripe with Facebook , in this casing , was n’t only that he could n’t choose - out of these transfers , but that the US does n’t “ provide sufficient protection against memory access by the public authorities to the information transfer to that land . ” Again , he was right-hand on the money with this ; while US self-assurance are take to climb up through a few legal - ish hoops to get any sort of digital data point on a leave substance abuser , we ’ve provenagain and againthat authorities here have recover ways to avoid those basketball game entirely .

While the EU courts ab initio disagreed with Schrem on the grounds that “ the United States ensure an adequate degree of trade protection , ” patently , they ’ve come to term with the fact that our U.S. do not really provide very much protection at all . We ’ve seen themsiphon offdata from Twitterand Facebookalike to surveil people at protests over the year , not to bring up what we ’ve realise handed off to the likes ofHomeland Security , all in a way that ’s virtually impossible to opt - out of .

The EU Courts make up one’s mind that pulling these sorts of movement can be weigh a usurpation of the promises American company have been making to “ protect ” information under GDPR . As a upshot , they ’ve decided to undulate - back the “ Privacy Shield ” agreements they held with the US to transfer their data abroad since they were introduced back in 2016 .

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ECJ : the Decision on the adequacy of the protection provided by the EU - US Data Protection Shield is nullified , but@EU_CommissionDecision on standard contractual clauses for the transference of personal data to central processor established in third countries is valid#Facebook#Schremspic.twitter.com / BgxGAvuq3 thyroxin

— EU Court of Justice ( @EUCourtPress)July 16 , 2020

Under the Privacy Shield ’s litany of law , there wasa proposalto have companies hoovering information on US soil signalise a declaration with their European counterparts each meter they be after on doing that transatlantic transference , even if that transferee ’s only materialise for “ processing purpose , ” and even if both side of the deal already participated in the Privacy Shield correspondence . Under these rules , the administrator Facebook ’s Irish HQ would be required to hound its US - based buddies with a save contract explaining what can and ca n’t be done with their data point once it hits American grounds . If the American team decline to sign the contract , no data transfer can occur .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

It sounds like a good approximation until you realize that , well , many of the consequence we have with potential domestic snooping is happeningin bruise ofthe sorts of privacy - protecting languagewritten intolaws like the CCPA . If our own self-confidence have already proven to be experts at finding loophole in these sort of contracts , then arguably , the answer is n’t more contracts on a transatlantic scale — it ’s asking the US to actually crackdown on its own privacy practices .

While this causa started with Schem ’s anger surrounding Facebook , the truth is that this rollback could potentially apply to any American tech party processing the data of Europeans on American soil . As The Wall Street Journalpointed out , this also mean that companies with a monumental footprint abroad , like say , Apple , will have to decide whether the vexation ( and cost ) of setting up a net ton of servers across the Atlantic Ocean is worth the line that comes from forge in the area . One interpreter from the Computer & Communications Industry Association — a lobbying chemical group repping the likes of Amazon , Facebook , and Google — told the Journal that the crackdown on the Privacy Shield “ creates effectual uncertainty for the thou of large and small-scale companies on both side of the Atlantic ” that rely on this framework for their day - to - mean solar day operations . And until the EU Courts finish scramble to instate some sort of law that protect it member ’ secrecy good than the Shield , every technical school company — even thosebasedin the EU proper — are being left in a sure degree of oblivion , unsure of what can and ca n’t be condoned by their local authorities .

While locally - based companies are definitelysweatingover the EU ’s decisiveness , it ’s worth noting that none of them are go to be punted out of their European offices just yet . As Wilbur Ross , the US Secretary of commerce put ina statementregarding the EU ’s determination , the Privacy Shield is n’t proceed anywhere just because it ’s been proven to be effectively useless when it fare to American companies .

William Duplessie

“ Today ’s decision does not relieve enter organizations of their Privacy Shield obligations , ” he wrote .

“ While the Department of Commerce is deeply disappointed that the court appears to have void the European Commission ’s adequacy determination underlie the EU - U.S. Privacy Shield , we are still studying the decisiveness to fully understand its practical impacts . ”

In the meantime , there could be more thanfive trillion dollarsleft on the table if these transatlantic relationships comminute to a stop . In ordering to recoil that back into power train , the US will — hopefully — be forced to figure with the consequence of giving its officials unfettered access to every piece of our digital data .

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