How Much Data is Transferred Between the EU and the US? The Case of Meta after the High-Dimensional Denoising Decision

Although Meta has been ordered to stop the data transfers, there are a number of positives for the social media giant. First, the ruling only applies to data from Facebook, not other Meta companies like Instagram and WhatsApp. Second, there’s a five-month grace period before Meta has to stop future transfers, and a six-month deadline to stop holding current data in the US. Third, and most important, the EU and US are currently negotiating a new deal to transfer data that could be in place as early as this summer and as late as October.

Despite the record-breaking size of the fine, experts expressed doubt that it will change anything fundamental about Meta’s privacy practices. Johnny Ryan, a senior fellow at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, said that a billion-euro parking ticket is of no consequence to a company that earns billions by parking illegally.

Others were very happy. “We are happy to see this decision after ten years of litigation,” said Schrems, whose 2013 legal challenge is the origin of today’s ruling, in a press release. “The fine could have been much higher, given that the maximum fine is more than 4 billion and Meta has knowingly broken the law to make a profit for ten years.”

“We are appealing these decisions and will immediately seek a stay with the courts who can pause the implementation deadlines, given the harm that these orders would cause, including to the millions of people who use Facebook every day,” write Clegg and Newstead.

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC), the lead regulator for Meta in Europe, issued the fine after years of dispute about how data is transferred across the Atlantic. The decision says a complex legal mechanism, used by thousands of businesses for transferring data between the regions, was not lawful.

“The entire commercial and trade relationship between the EU and the US underpinned by data exchanges may be affected,” says Gabriela Zanfir-Fortuna, vice president of global privacy at Future of Privacy Forum, a nonprofit think tank. There are facts and situations that are the same for American companies doing business in Europe with online services from payments to cloud, to social media, to electronic communications, or software used in schools and public administrations.