Facebook doesn’t want to leave Europe and wants more flexibility in data transfers

What is Facebook’s main purpose? To reconnect people who may have lost touch over the years. And this does not concern just one part of the world, one country, one city, but the entire planet. Is your childhood friend now living on the other side of the world? You can contact him, reconnect, and shop with him. This requires the data of the two users to be matched. So where do they meet? In the USAOn Facebook!

However, the Irish data protection regulator (Data Protection Commissionthe equivalent of the French CNIL) is now demanding that all data from European users not leave the European Union. Essentially, this means that a French person’s data cannot end up on Facebook’s American servers. But the social network and its owner Instagram rely on exactly this data exchange.

Reason for this request: Privacy Shield It is not enough to ensure data security during transfers between Europe and the United States. Social networks are also heavily monitored. How can we ensure that Europeans’ personal information remains personal?

A word of calm but no solution

We reported in our columns at the beginning of the week that Facebook had threatened to leave Europe in response to this decision, and that it had blocked Instagram and Facebook connections for this reason. 400 million European Internet usersThere is turmoil among European advertisers, influencers and freelancers who rely on Facebook and Instagram. A press release a few hours later calms the debate but does not provide a solution.

In this document, Facebook confirms I don’t want to leave EuropeBut the American firm explains that it would prefer that the rules imposed by a regulator be written with economic reality in mind: We are in a global ecosystem. It is impossible to separate a region from the rest of the world.

Is there a need for protection that isolates Europe?

Facebook therefore wants the Irish DPC’s demands to be met Don’t be so categoricalOf course, giving a company the option to deviate from a rule makes the rule almost useless: to ensure free competition, it is not possible to offer one actor an alternative without offering the others.

But there are some economic realities in Facebook’s press release: It is not possible to block data transfers between Europe and the United Statesor between Europe and other parts of the world (even if the root of the problem is data security in the United States.) On the contrary, we should encourage them in the global economic system while ensuring the security of personal information both in transmission (which the Privacy Shield is supposed to do) and in the use of data made from it.

There are actually too many important services that depend on the Europe/United States connection

Because the problem is that there are so many professional and general public services that depend on this cross-border connection. This is even more true since the beginning of the year and the health crisis. Video conferencing system. VOD platform. Entertainment service. Accessing the Play Store to install an Android application or update iOS or Windows requires the transfer of personal data that allows the download between Europe and the United States.

Facebook reaffirmed its data controller’s comments before an Irish court: It is not possible today to offer its services while respecting the decisions of the Irish DPC.. On the other hand, the American company is starting a dialogue with European authorities to develop a system that reconciles the technical needs of the applications with the requirements for data security. However, creating this new system is a ” long term project “It is not yet known how the Irish regulator will respond to this speech.