Max Schrems
© Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo / ReutersAustrian lawyer, Max Schrems arrives at the Four Courts building in Dublin, Ireland, October 3, 2017
Facebook is trying to keep the European Court of Justice (ECJ) from reviewing an Irish privacy case, fearing potential limitations on its ability to move customer data from the EU to the US.

Facebook's headquarters for most of its non-US markets is in Dublin. The Irish High Court ruled that US surveillance programs permit the "mass indiscriminate" processing of the private data of European citizens and noted the lack of effective legal remedies against that kind of surveillance, given that the US government does not typically notify people who are being subjected to spying.

The Irish court has ordered the referral of the case to the ECJ in order to determine whether methods used for data transfers are legal. If the ECJ agrees with the decision of the Irish court, that could mean trouble ahead for thousands of tech firms, which transfer huge amounts of data from the EU to the US every day.

The case against Facebook was filed by Austrian lawyer and privacy activist Max Schrems, who questions whether big technology companies like Facebook give Europeans adequate protection from US surveillance systems.