LUXEMBOURG, Oct 6 : Facebook and other Internet giants could be barred from sending European citizens' personal information to the US after the EU's top court on Tuesday struck down a key transatlantic data deal in the wake of the Edward Snowden scandal.
The landmark verdict stemmed from a David-and-Goliath case lodged by Max Schrems, an Austrian privacy campaigner, who challenged Irish authorities over user data transferred to the United States from Facebook's European base in Ireland.
"The message is clear -- mass surveillance is not possible in Europe (and is) against fundamental rights," Schrems, who turns 28 this month, told reporters at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.
The blow to US firms sets up another transatlantic clash over privacy since the US National Security Agency whistleblower Snowden in 2013 revealed a worldwide surveillance programme using user data harvested from Silicon Valley giants.
The court said the "Safe Harbor" agreement that the United States and European Commission reached in 2000, on the basis that standards were similar in the US, did not sufficiently guarantee the protection of Europeans' personal data.
"The Court of Justice declares that the Commission's US Safe Harbour Decision is invalid," the Luxembourg-based court said in a three-page judgment welcomed by campaigners.     ?AFP