As scrutiny against Facebook continues to build in the shadow of the European Union’s data protection framework, the company’s legal abilities may be on the decline.

The storm continues

Facebook USA will be taking over data processing for international users instead of Facebook Ireland, in the wake of the European Union’s latest sanctions to update data, privacy, and protection.

However the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into effect on May 25, will not cover the 1.5 billion international users who are not EU citizens, but have their data processed through FB Ireland.

At present, the Australia does not have a comparable framework of data protection like the GDPR.

What the experts say

Facebook recently responded to GDPR criticisms in saying “[they] are offering everyone who uses Facebook the same privacy protections, controls and settings, no matter where they live.”

According to Reuters, 70% of Facebook’s 2 billion users will be effected by the shift with 239 million users found in US and Canada, 370 million in Europe and 1.52 billion throughout the rest of the world.

Other multi-national companies, such as LinkedIn, are planning on making the same data processing shift for international users. It seems the US is becoming more the wild west when it comes to online legal protections but time will tell.

What are your thoughts on the switch of data processing? Are you surprised? Let us know what you think in our comments section.