Irish regulator moves closer to possible ban on Facebook, Instagram EU-US data flows

Ireland’s data privacy regulator moved a step closer to a ruling that could halt EU-US data transfers by Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram when it shared an updated draft order with other EU regulators on Thursday, a spokesperson said.

Europe’s highest court ruled in 2020 that an EU-US data transfer agreement was invalid, citing surveillance concerns. That prompted Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) to issue a provisional order to block the mechanism Meta uses to transfer data.

While the European Union and US have since announced a preliminary data transfer deal in a bid to end the limbo, the DPC’s probe has continued in parallel and it informed its EU counterparts of the draft decision on Thursday, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson would not comment on the content of the draft decision.

Under EU privacy rules introduced in 2018, regulators around the bloc have one month to give their input before a final decision is reached. Any objections, which have regularly been lodged in such cases, could add months to the timeline.

The DPC is the EU’s lead regulator of Meta and many other of the world’s largest technology companyies due to the location of their EU headquarters in Ireland.

Stay on top of technology and startup news that matters. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for the latest and must-read tech news, delivered straight to your inbox.