By: The New York Times
Date: July 7, 2022
A draft decision by Irish regulators on Thursday threatened to block Facebook and Instagram from moving data about European Union users to the United States, the latest round in a yearslong dispute about protecting the data of European citizens from American spying.
The order from Ireland’s Data Protection Commission stems from a court decision that said data from Facebook and Instagram users in Europe could not be moved to the United States because the services were subject to American laws that give surveillance agencies access to certain information about international users.
The decision, first reported by Politico, increases pressure on American and European negotiators to complete a deal, announced in March, to allow businesses to keep moving digital information across the Atlantic. Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, has said it may have to shut down the services in Europe if it is unable to transport data easily.