The European Union has approved a new data transfer deal with the U.S., allowing tech giants like Facebook and Google to freely transfer data between the two regions. The transatlantic data transfer deal follows concerns raised by EU courts about U.S. security agencies accessing citizens' data. The EU's executive arm adopted an adequacy decision, allowing companies to safely transfer and store data about Europeans in the U.S. without violating privacy laws, at least for now. - The agreement, known as the Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework, is still expected to face legal challenges due to concerns over weak protections.
- Previous data transfer agreements, such as Safe Harbor and the Privacy Shield, were invalidated by European courts.
In May, EU regulators fined Facebook owner Meta a record €1.2B ($1.3B) for transferring user information to the U.S. - In addition to the fine, a data protection regulator ordered Meta to halt the transfer of European Facebook users' information to the U.S. and delete any data that was transferred in the previous six months.
- Monday's deal allows Meta to potentially avoid the data deletion order and suspension of data flows, although the company is still likely to face the fine.
- Meta has said it intends to appeal that ruling.
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