The Irish High Court has formally asked the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to figure out whether it’s legal under European law for Facebook to routinely transfer user data to the United States. The referral to the court was published Thursday, and Facebook has until the end of the month to respond to the Irish court.
If the CJEU rules against Facebook, it could put a slew of American tech giants on notice and throw what is generally a smooth and orderly process into chaos. Right now, European Twitter, Google, and Facebook users have their data captured in their home countries, but the data is processed and/or stored by the American parent companies.
