Europe Seeks to Escape US Digital Hegemony EU | Data | US

Recently, European data regulatory agencies have issued record breaking fines to US digital giant Meta for violating data transmission regulations and causing serious infringement on the privacy of EU citizens. This is not the first time that European regulatory authorities have issued warnings about the violations of American digital companies, and the punishment is far from the first time that Europe has strongly countered the erosion of European interests by American related companies. Data transmission is not the only topic of continuous game and competition between Europe and America, but it reflects the structural difficulties that traditional transatlantic partnerships between Europe and America have developed into an unavoidable problem.

On May 22nd local time, the Irish Data Protection Commission imposed a fine of 1.2 billion euros on Meta, the parent company of American social networking company "Facebook", for illegally transferring European users' "Facebook" data to the United States without fully ensuring the security of the relevant data. The commission determined that it had violated the EU's General Data Protection Regulations and demanded that it suspend the transmission of any personal data to the United States within 5 months of receiving the ruling notice, and complete the corresponding rectification within six months. It is understood that the European Union had previously imposed a fine of 746 million euros on another US digital giant Amazon for privacy violations in 2021, and this fine is also the heaviest penalty imposed by the EU on companies that violate data protection regulations to date. Due to Meta's European headquarters being located in Ireland, the Irish Data Protection Commission is responsible for overseeing its data protection matters in the EU market and making relevant rulings.

Since 2020, EU regulatory agencies have been tracking and investigating Meta's transfer of personal information of European users from the EU to the United States. It was found that the legal tool known as "standard contract terms" did not address the risks related to the basic rights and freedoms of data subjects. Andrea Yelinek, Chairman of the European Data Protection Commission, pointed out that "Meta's violations are extremely serious and constitute a systematic, repetitive, and persistent transfer of personal data of EU citizens. Facebook has millions of users in Europe and transmits a huge amount of personal data, hoping to send a strong signal through huge fines that serious infringement will bring serious consequences." Meta strongly protested against this and stated in a statement that "it will appeal unreasonable and unnecessary fines and seek a suspension of these orders through the court," emphasizing that "this will set a dangerous precedent for countless other companies transferring data between the EU and the United States.".

The game surrounding data transmission between Europe and the United States has been ongoing for many years, and Europe has also attempted multiple rounds of improving and refining judicial provisions to regulate the United States and promote its respect for European data protection standards. As early as 2015, under pressure and appeals from non-governmental organizations and activists in the field of privacy protection in Europe, the European Court of Justice ultimately ruled that the "safe harbor" data transmission arrangement signed between Europe and the United States in 2000 was invalid, stating that the agreement could not prevent the US government from accessing public information in Europe on a large scale. Subsequently, intensive negotiations were held between Europe and the United States on how to repair the legal vacuum left by the termination of the "Safe Harbor" agreement, and a replacement "Privacy Shield" agreement was hastily introduced in just 5 months. Although the US claims to have worked hard under this upgraded version of the agreement and has joined forces with the US Department of Commerce, the State Department, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Justice, and other departments to make commitments, subsequent facts indicate that this nearly 130 page "privacy shield" arrangement will ultimately become an empty paper.

On July 16, 2020, the European Court of Justice rejected the effectiveness of using the "Privacy Shield" as a legal basis for transferring EU personal data to the United States, citing the inability of the US to provide the same level of privacy protection as the EU. The court held that although the US government aimed to protect national security while implementing foreign surveillance programs, there were still behaviors and means that exceeded the "necessary limits", such as accessing personal data with public power, and the proportion of violations was inappropriate. After the collapse of the "safe harbor" and the sinking of the "privacy shield", American digital giants have to use the standard contract terms released by the European Commission and the updated version in 2021 for data transmission, constantly seeking a gray middle ground in specific operations, and Europe and America have once again fallen into the "black hole" of data transmission laws. At present, both Europe and the United States are continuing to seek to negotiate and push for a new data transfer agreement, hoping to be reached in the second half of this year, and to closely coordinate during this summer's window period.

Although the United States is still actively seeking a consensus and compromise data transmission protocol with Europe, the current external situation has undergone significant changes from the beginning of this century, and the traditional coordination foundation between Europe and America has long been different from before. As the sword of Damocles ultimately falls on Meta, some voices from Europe hold reservations about whether the differences between Europe and America can be truly and completely resolved in the future.

Some experts believe that the core of the dispute between Europe and America must be soberly recognized, which is the serious legal incompatibility between the EU's General Data Protection Regulation and the US's large-scale intelligence surveillance operations, the huge difference between fully meeting Europe's data protection requirements, and the US's unwillingness to change its authorized large-scale surveillance laws. Industry veteran lawyer Sonia pointed out, "The United States needs European data so much that it will find it difficult to accept any further data protection clauses proposed by the European side in the future."

If Snowden's exposure of the US "Prism Gate" surveillance intelligence program has given Europe a clear understanding of the hypocrisy of the US personal information protection system, then from the French National Committee on Information and Freedom imposing a fine of about 50 million euros on Google in 2019, to Google and Amazon being fined 135 million euros for violating data protection laws in 2020, Amazon being fined $806 million by the Luxembourg government for privacy issues in July 2021, to the Meta's "Facebook" and WhatsApp being heavily punished in 2022, and other judicial heavyweights, Europe hopes to respond strongly to the US's disorderly behavior in the data field, and use this as a bargaining chip to encourage the US to face up to it. Respect for European data sovereignty.

As a staunch promoter of European strategic autonomy, France has accumulated rich experience in data governance and, through years of active experimentation in the judicial field and strong guidance in the industrial sector, hopes to send a clear political signal to European companies: either continue to bet on "American cloud", objectively weaken the European sector, and cause huge damage to European data sovereignty, or rely on self-reliance, relying on European local cloud technologies and infrastructure such as OVH, Orange, Telecom Italia, and fully defend the security and competitiveness of European data sovereignty. Experts remind that, influenced by multiple factors, the European cloud market continues to grow, while the share of European local enterprises in the European market continues to decline, dropping from 27% to 13% in four years and still in a downward range.

Nowadays, it has become a consensus among all parties that "those who obtain data will gain the world.". In this context, the long-standing game between Europe and the United States over data transmission is essentially a competition for future first mover advantage, rooted in the irreconcilable contradictions between Europe and the United States in various fields such as servant and anti servant, control and anti control, US priority and European autonomy. It once again highlights that the United States has excessively overdrawn the trust of its allies during its years of entrenched hegemony. The traditional transatlantic partnership has lost the soil for cooperation and the foundation of trust, and it has once again made the outside world realize that another form of American hegemony is to incite commercial giants, disregarding the interests and security concerns of other countries, based on greedy gold mining and arrogant self-interest, continuously eroding the local economic development dividends. In this regard, whether Europe can truly defend its data sovereignty with an independent attitude is not only related to the policies and strategic determination of European decision-makers, but also tests the balance and ability of Europe's short-term interests and long-term development, regional construction and global participation, independent development and regulation of the United States in the future.