Facebook to port UK users onto US agreements Sign in with LinkedIn
17 December 2020 | Natalie Bannerman Facebook has confirmed plans to move its UK users to new agreements with its corporate headquarters in California.
The move could see UK users distance themselves from the more stringent European Union (EU) privacy rules, post Brexit.
The changes are due to come into effect in the new year and follows similar moves by the likes of Google which announced similar plans back in February. UK users will receive a notification of the changes to their terms and conditions in the first half of 2021.
Both companies have additional European headquarters in Dublin, Ireland which will remain in the EU changing the legal relationship between the two.
Facebook to take UK users out of EU privacy regime
17. Dec 2020, 07:29
All British Facebook users will, from 1 January, have their data handled according to Californian state law, where the US firm is based, in order to avoid EU laws on data protection, Reuters reports. Like other companies, Facebook has had to make changes to respond to Brexit and will be transferring legal responsibilities and obligations for UK users from Facebook Ireland to Facebook Inc., the company confirmed in a statement.
Read and decide
Get instant access to all articles and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.
Choose your plan
Our exclusive news stories and investigations. Influential. Investigative. Independent.
Facebook UK users will lose EU privacy protections in 2021. (JPI Media) Facebook will switch all United Kingdom account holders into user agreements with the firm s corporate headquarters in California, steering them clear of EU privacy laws. The current relationship with Facebook s Irish unit will end next year as the UK leaves the European Union (EU) at the end of the Brexit transition period. Facebook has said that the move will not change the privacy controls of UK users, or the services they are offered. Changes after Brexit UK users are currently governed by agreements with Facebook’s headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, but the legal relationship will change after the Brexit transition period comes to an end at the end of this year.
Facebook UK users will lose EU privacy protections in 2021. (JPI Media) Facebook will switch all United Kingdom account holders into user agreements with the firm s corporate headquarters in California, steering them clear of EU privacy laws. The current relationship with Facebook s Irish unit will end next year as the UK leaves the European Union (EU) at the end of the Brexit transition period. Facebook has said that the move will not change the privacy controls of UK users, or the services they are offered. Changes after Brexit UK users are currently governed by agreements with Facebook’s headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, but the legal relationship will change after the Brexit transition period comes to an end at the end of this year.
Read later
Summary:
Brexit means it s time to move UK user data to the US and away from the EU s GDPR regime.
(Pixabay)
While Brexit negotiations lurch on and questions of post 1 January data adequacy provisions are still up in the air, Facebook has seized the chance to shake off a bit of regulatory rigor by confirming that it will move oversight of data belonging to UK users to the US.
That means that the firm will take advantage of the UK no longer falling under the European Union’s data protection regime to shift millions of members data from its current location in Ireland, where it comes under GDPR coverage, to California and, theoretically at least, out of the reach of EU regulators.