European Court of Justice

The European Court of Justice could on Thursday pause the transfer of private data between the European Union and the United States in a case involving Facebook.

According to reports, the court is to rule in a case initiated by Austrian privacy activist Maximilian Schrems.

He complained to Irish authorities that his Facebook data, which were compiled by Facebook Ireland, were transferred to its U.S. branch without his permission.

Schrems argues that because American intelligence agencies can access Facebook users’ private data, EU citizens’ data are not sufficiently protected and that there is no means of appeal for this transfer.…