Beautiful Virgin Islands

Saturday, Oct 25, 2025

Can democracies stand up to Facebook? Ireland may have the answer

Can democracies stand up to Facebook? Ireland may have the answer

Liberal democracies struggle to tackle the might of the tech giants when it comes to protecting users’ data
Last month, the Irish data protection commissioner (DPC) sent Facebook a preliminary order ordering it to stop sending the data of its European users to the US. This was a big deal, because in order to comply with the ruling, Facebook would have to embark on a comprehensive re-engineering of its European operations, or to shut down those operations entirely, at least for a time.

Such a shutdown would of course be traumatic for the poor souls who are addicted to Facebook and Instagram, but it would be even worse for the company – for two reasons.

The first is that it makes more money from European users’ data – an average of $13.21 (£10.19) per user in 2019 – than from any other territory except the US (where it earns $41.41 per user); the second is that failure to comply could land it with a fine of up to 4% of its global revenue, which in Facebook’s case would come to about $3bn. Given the scale of its revenues, that’s not a showstopper, but it would nevertheless be annoying.

Predictably, the company was furious, threatening, as one commentator put it, “to pack up its toys and go home if European regulators don’t back down and let the social network get its own way”.

Facebook’s lawyer lodged an application for judicial review of the DPC’s ruling. If the decision were upheld, wrote Yvonne Cunnane, Facebook Ireland’s head of data protection and associate general counsel, “it is not clear to [Facebook] how, in those circumstances, it could continue to provide the Facebook and Instagram services in the EU”.

Cunnane, clearly auditioning for a lead role in a revival of Evita, protested that her poor little employer had been given only three weeks to respond to the ruling at a time when they are all flat out making money.

Warming to her theme, she also complained that she was “not aware” that any of the other tech companies that transfer data to the US – under the same legal fudge arranged after the EU-US Privacy Shield was struck down by the European court of justice – had been singled out by the DPC. So innocent Facebook was being picked on by a malevolent official. It was all most unfair.

So far, so predictable. But there is also a menacing tone in part of Cunnane’s submission. “I say,” she declares, “that the fact that one person is responsible for the entire process is also relevant to the Applicant’s [Facebook’s] concerns, in respect of the inadequacy of the investigative process engaged in and/or independence of the ultimate decision-making process.”

This is a legalistic shot directly aimed at the Irish DPC, Helen Dixon, and you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to understand what is being implied here.

So let’s unpack it a little. The reason it’s the Irish DPC that is taking action against Facebook’s data-exporting practices is that the company – like most of the other tech giants – has established its European HQ in Dublin.

This is partly because they want to be in the EU and partly because of the Irish Republic’s long-established, tax-friendly and, er, relaxed, attitudes to huge foreign corporations.

So Facebook comes under Dixon’s jurisdiction. But the imbalance between, on the one hand, the DPC’s responsibilities and her 140 staff and, on the other, Facebook’s colossal legal, financial and technical resources is positively grotesque. Which is why it’s tempting to read the company’s legal response as the enraged response of a tiger that has suddenly been bitten by a flea.

My guess – as a lay reader – is that there are lots of technical issues here that will keep lawyers busy for months, or even years. In which case, European users’ data will continue to flow freely into Facebook’s servers in the US, where they will be open to snooping by that country’s security and other services, under less rigorous oversight that would be the case had they been kept on servers in Europe.

But in a way, this skirmish in Dublin provides a preview of a much bigger question about state capacity in these networked times. In discussions about these issues, I’ve sometimes found it useful to frame it provocatively as a simple proposition that goes like this: the only states that now have the capacity to tame or control tech giants are authoritarian ones.

Liberal democracies are no longer up to the job because they have to stay within the bounds of the neoliberal legal frameworks they have been assiduously constructing over half a century.

Large corporations have the resources to spin things out for years or even decades, while governments and their elites are increasingly trapped in the attention-deficit syndrome brought about by five-year electoral cycles.

Which is why a visitor to Dublin a decade from now might discover that the case of Facebook Ireland Limited v Data Protection Commission is still going strong in the high court there.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
China and Russia Deploy Seductive Espionage Networks to Infiltrate U.S. Tech Sector
Apple’s ‘iPhone Air’ Collapses After One Month — Another Major Misstep for the Tech Giant
Graham Potter Begins New Chapter as Sweden Head Coach on Short-Term Deal
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa Alleges Poison Plot via Chocolate and Jam
Lakestar to Halt External Fundraising as Investor in Revolut and Spotify
U.S. Innovation Ranking Under Scrutiny as China Leads Output Outputs but Ranks 10th
Three Men Arrested in London on Suspicion of Spying for Russia
Porsche Reverses EV Strategy as New CEO Bets on Petrol and Hybrids
Singapore’s Prime Minister Warns of ‘Messy’ Transition to Post-American Global Order
Andreessen Horowitz Sets Sights on Ten-Billion-Dollar Fund for Tech Surge
US Administration Under President Donald Trump Reportedly Lifts Ban on Ukraine’s Use of Storm Shadow Missiles Against Russia
‘Frightening’ First Night in Prison for Sarkozy: Inmates Riot and Shout ‘Little Nicolas’
White House Announces No Imminent Summit Between Trump and Putin
US and Qatar Warn EU of Trade and Energy Risks from Tough Climate Regulation
Apple Challenges EU Digital Markets Act Crackdown in Landmark Court Battle
Nicolas Sarkozy begins five-year prison term at La Santé in Paris
Japan stocks surge to record as Sanae Takaichi becomes Prime Minister
This Is How the 'Heist of the Century' Was Carried Out at the Louvre in Seven Minutes: France Humiliated as Crown with 2,000 Diamonds Vanishes
China Warns UK of ‘Consequences’ After Delay to London Embassy Approval
France’s Wealthy Shift Billions to Luxembourg and Switzerland Amid Tax and Political Turmoil
"Sniper Position": Observation Post Targeting 'Air Force One' Found Before Trump’s Arrival in Florida
Shouting Match at the White House: 'Trump Cursed, Threw Maps, and Told Zelensky – "Putin Will Destroy You"'
Windows’ Own ‘Siri’ Has Arrived: You Can Now Talk to Your Computer
Thailand and Singapore Investigate Cambodian-Based Prince Group as U.S. and U.K. Sanctions Unfold
‘No Kings’ Protests Inflate Numbers — But History Shows Nations Collapse Without Strong Executive Power
Chinese Tech Giants Halt Stablecoin Launches After Beijing’s Regulatory Intervention
Manhattan Jury Holds BNP Paribas Liable for Enabling Sudanese Government Abuses
Trump Orders Immediate Release of Former Congressman George Santos After Commuting Prison Sentence
S&P Downgrades France’s Credit Rating, Citing Soaring Debt and Political Instability
Ofcom Rules BBC’s Gaza Documentary ‘Materially Misleading’ Over Narrator’s Hamas Ties
Diane Keaton’s Cause of Death Revealed as Pneumonia, Family Confirms
Former Lostprophets Frontman Ian Watkins Stabbed to Death in British Prison
"The Tsunami Is Coming, and It’s Massive": The World’s Richest Man Unveils a New AI Vision
Outsider, Heroine, Trailblazer: Diane Keaton Was Always a Little Strange — and Forever One of a Kind
Dramatic Development in the Death of 'Mango' Founder: Billionaire's Son Suspected of Murder
Two Years of Darkness: The Harrowing Testimonies of Israeli Hostages Emerging From Gaza Captivity
EU Moves to Use Frozen Russian Assets to Buy U.S. Weapons for Ukraine
Europe Emerges as the Biggest Casualty in U.S.-China Rare Earth Rivalry
HSBC Confronts Strategic Crossroads as NAB Seeks Only Retail Arm in Australia Exit
U.S. Chamber Sues Trump Over $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Shenzhen Expo Spotlights China’s Quantum Step in Semiconductor Self-Reliance
China Accelerates to the Forefront in Global Nuclear Fusion Race
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
×