Facebook transmits European user data to the US government or faces a fine of 19.1 billion yuan from EU countries.

　　Data Map: mark zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Facebook. (Source: Getty Images)

　　Overseas Network September 10th US media reported that Ireland’s data regulator has issued a preliminary order to Facebook, asking the other party to stop transmitting relevant data of EU users to the United States.

　　According to a report quoted by the US Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC) on the 10th, the preliminary order was issued to Facebook by the Irish Data Protection Committee (DPC) in August. Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president of global affairs and communications, pointed out in a blog post published on Wednesday (9th) that DPC has started to investigate Facebook’s data transmission in the European Union and the United States.

　　The report was released a few months after the European Court of Justice ruled that the data transmission standards between the EU and the United States could not fully protect the privacy of European citizens. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) is the highest legal institution in the European Union. After determining that EU citizens have no effective way to counter the monitoring of the US government, the court restricted American companies from sending European user data to the United States. Theoretically, American institutions such as the National Security Agency (NSA) can ask Internet companies such as Facebook and Google to hand over data about EU citizens, while EU citizens are kept in the dark.

　　The European Court’s ruling came after Schrems, an Austrian privacy activist, filed a lawsuit based on a disclosure by Edward Snowden, who claimed that American law did not provide sufficient protection against surveillance by public authorities. Schrems filed a complaint against Facebook, which, like many other companies, is transmitting data of Schrems and other users to the US government.

　　The court ruling invalidated the EU-US privacy protection agreement, which had enabled these American Internet companies to transmit data of EU citizens across the Atlantic. After the verdict, these American Internet companies began to rely on standard contract terms (SCC) to transmit data.

　　Clegg, former British Deputy Prime Minister, said that the Irish Data Protection Committee had begun to investigate the data transmission in Europe and America controlled by Facebook, and suggested that SCC should not be used for data transmission in Europe and America in practice. If SCC cannot be used as the legal basis for data transmission, Facebook will have to cancel most of the data collected by European users. DPC may impose a fine of 4% of Facebook’s maximum annual income, or if it fails to comply with the ban, it will be fined 2.8 billion US dollars (about 19.14 billion yuan).

　　Although the order applies to Facebook, DPC may issue similar orders to other American technology giants, which may cause serious damage to its business. Clegg went on to point out that the primary task of the EU is to ensure that users, advertisers, customers and partners in Europe can continue to enjoy Facebook services while maintaining the security of their data, and that European countries will continue to transmit data in accordance with the recent ruling of the European Court of Justice until further guidance is received. He also warned that companies need to abide by clear global rules to protect transatlantic data flows for a long time. (Overseas network Hou Xingchuan)