Facebook Affected By ECJ's Ruling

The European Court of Justice has passed a data protection ruling that could affect Facebook and Google.

A European Authority has ruled against the interests of Facebook. The European Court of Justice has given a ruling in favor of the Hungarian Data Protection Authority (DPA) in its lawsuit against Slovakian property webpage, Weltimmo. It is a milestone judgment that could affect organizations, such as Google and Facebook, across different European Union member states.

Facebook News affirmed that the court gave its verdict on Thursday. if a company provides a service in a country’s native language and has agents in that state, then it could be held responsible by the state’s national DPA regardless of the location of its headquarter.

Ashley Winston of law company, Paul Hastings, stated, “This landmark ruling from the court has changed the face of data protection for companies operating across multiple EU jurisdictions, particularly those who are consumer facing.”

Facebook News today reported that the Hungarian DPA filed the petition against Weltimmo, which is providing a property promotion facility in Hungary but based in Slovakia. The ECJ has held the property-selling website accountable for the imposition of fines by the Hungarian authority for the violation of the data security law of the state.

Facebook Breaking News revealed that prior to the verdict, companies such as Facebook and others have opted to establish the head office of their European operations in one state, such as Ireland, which were supposed to be governed only within that state. The enterprises could then execute their operations in any European Union member country without devouring to attain regulatory endorsement in each state.

Ashley stated, “This was to the benefit of many companies, some of whom elected to create an establishment in the UK or Ireland, where data protection laws and practices are more liberal and arguably more business friendly.”

The Google Spain petition of 2014 that directed to the “right to be forgotten” judgment considered that plan and the Weltimmo petition now puts it on unstable ground. The judgment explains that Weltimmo could be held accountable for the imposition of the fine worth 10 million Hungarian forint (£23,650). The Hungarian authority has fined the organization over sharing user details to the other organizations.

The consequences for Google and Facebook could be significant. The social network platform operator has previously been challenged by various lawsuits over secrecy, such as in Austria and Belgium, where the national data protection authorities have claimed it has violated national rules.

It is probable that the recently passed ruling would adversely Facebook’s operations in the European Union.