Tech firms like Facebook must restrict data sent from EU to US, court rules

Lisa Peets spoke with The Guardian about the European Court of Justice’s decision to invalidate the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, in which social media companies could be prevented from sending data to the United States from Europe. Ms. Peets says the ruling is not a total halt on data transfers between the EU and U.S. The court upheld the use of “standard contractual clauses” (SCCs) to transfer personal data between Europe and U.S., allowing companies to seek specific consent from users for data to be exported. She adds, “Data flows between Europe and the United States are an integral part of the European economy and of the day-to-day lives of millions of European consumers, and the SCCs are the backbone for many of those data transfers. As for the privacy shield, the European commission will be highly focused on finding a resolution and will be actively working work with the U.S. government to identify a path forward.”