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Facebook, Belgian watchdog face off over who should police company

The case also has the potential to unleash a flood of investigations by national agencies in the 27-country bloc into other U.S.

Under landmark EU privacy rules known as the General Data Protection Regulation and its one-stop-shop mechanism, the Irish privacy authority is the lead authority for Facebook as the companys European head office is based in Ireland.

The European Commission, which backs Facebook, said it was important to have a tool that ensures consistency in applying GDPR rules across the bloc.

The Belgian data protection authority , which has the support of the Polish and Belgian governments, said GDPR rules allow for some leeway for national agencies to act in their own country.

Court President Koen Lenaerts said there could be a problem if national watchdogs were not allowed to fight for their citizens, which in turn would force people to file private lawsuits.

The Irish watchdog has opened cases into Facebook, Facebook-owned Instagram and WhatsApp as well as Twitter, Apple, Verizon Media, Microsoft-owned LinkedIn and U.S.

Original article
Author: Foo Yun Chee

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