Facebook sidesteps EU personal privacy rule by moving UK users to California terms

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Facebook is likely to move its UK users on to US agreements, where data privacy laws are less stringent than the EU regulations currently in force.

The move may be the legal ripple aftereffect of Brexit, when the UK won't be treaty-bound to EU regulations.

The change will happen up coming year and follows a similar approach announced in February by Google.

“Like others, Facebook has had to create changes to respond to Brexit and you will be transferring legal duties and obligations for UK users from Facebook Ireland to Facebook Inc,” the company’s UK arm said.

“There will be not any change to the privacy controls or the services Facebook offers to persons in the UK.”

Soon after Brexit, the UK will keep on tracking the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, just about the most stringent data-protection laws in the world, nonetheless it is expected, over time, to diverge.

Data privacy activists found in the UK fear that Facebook might pressure the US government into forcing Britain to simply accept US data laws in virtually any future trade package which could come to be negotiated after Brexit.

Some also get worried that UK Facebook users could easier be subject to surveillance by US intelligence agencies or data requests from police.

“The bigger the business, the more personal data they hold, the more they will tend to be subject to surveillance duties or requirements to hand over data to the US government,” said Jim Killock, executive director of the UK organisation, Open up Rights Group.

US courts hold that constitutional protections against unreasonable searches usually do not connect with non-citizens overseas.

Information industry regulators in the UK said that they had been in touch with Facebook and different tech corporations with EU bases before Brexit.

“We are aware of Facebook’s plans and will continue to build relationships the business in the new year,” said a spokeswoman at the info Commissioner’s Office.

A Twitter spokesman said its UK users will still be handled by the company's Dublin office.

Facebook will inform users of the shift in the next half a year, a firm spokesman said, providing them with the option to avoid using the world’s most significant public network and its own Instagram and WhatsApp products and services.

Facebook’s decision comes at a time when the UK is escalating attempts to ban good encryption, which Facebook is moving to implement in all its products.

The UK, like the EU, can be pressuring Facebook on a number of different fronts, including hate speech and terrorism policies.

The US could also pursue new regulations on privacy and social press content, and federal and state prosecutors recently launched antitrust lawsuits against Facebook and Alphabet, Google’s parent company.

Source: https://www.thenationalnews.com

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