The social media giant failed to prevent a bid, which may prohibit it from sending data about its 410 million European users to the United States.

The High Court ruled on Friday that Ireland’s data regulator can resume its investigation and may trigger a ban on Facebook’s transatlantic data transmission. The company warned that the possibility of a trading suspension would have a devastating effect on its business.

The case stems from the European Union’s concern that when European citizens send their personal data to the United States for commercial use, the US government’s surveillance may not respect their right to privacy.

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) of the Republic of Ireland, Facebook’s main EU regulator, launched an investigation in August and issued an interim order requiring Facebook to use “actually unusable” to transfer EU user data to the main US mechanism.

Facebook has questioned both the investigation and the preliminary draft decision (PDD), saying they threaten the “destructive” and “irreversible” consequences of its business, which relies on processing user data to provide targeted online advertising.

The High Court rejected this challenge on Friday.

“I reject all the relief sought by the FBI. [Facebook Ireland] Judge David Barniville (David Barniville) said in the 200-page judgment.

The ruling said: “The FBI did not provide any basis for questioning the DPC’s decision or the investigative procedures adopted by the PDD or DPC.”

Although this decision did not immediately lead to the interruption of data traffic, Austrian privacyist Max Schrems forced the Irish data regulator to take a series of legal actions over the past eight years. He said he believed this. A decision is inevitable.

He said: “Eight years later, DPC must now stop Facebook’s European and American data transmission, most likely before the summer.”

A Facebook spokesperson said the company looks forward to defending its compliance with EU data rules, because the temporary order of the Irish regulator “may harm not only Facebook, but also users and other businesses.”

Privileged access

If the Irish data regulator executes the interim order, it will effectively terminate the access to European personal data by privileged access companies in the United States and put them in the same position as companies in other countries outside the European Union.

In its July ruling, the European Court of Justice held that the mechanism challenged by the Irish regulator was Standard Contract Clauses (SCC).

However, the court also ruled that, according to the SCC, if data protection in other countries/regions cannot be ensured, the privacy regulator must suspend or prohibit transfers outside the European Union.

Facebook’s lawyers told the High Court in December that if the Irish regulator’s draft decision is implemented, it will “have devastating consequences for Facebook’s business”, affect Facebook’s 410 million active users in Europe, crack down on political groups and undermine freedom of speech.

Ireland’s data protection commissioner Helen Dixon said in February that companies may face large-scale disruption of transatlantic data flows due to the European Court of Justice’s ruling.

Dixon’s office welcomed the decision on Friday but declined to comment further.