Google To Move UK Data To US Post-Brexit

In a move prompted by the UK’s exit from the EU, tech giant Google has announced plans to move all its British data to the U.S., according to Reuters.

The move will mean that the data of tens of millions of Brits will be no longer covered by the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), one of the world’s most aggressive data protection rules.

At the moment, Google stores all its British data at their Irish headquarters, but have decided to make the move due to the uncertainty of whether the UK government will continue to follow the GDPR guidelines, or adopt new rules which will affect how personal data is handled.

Google said UK users will still be covered by the EU’s fierce General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which has been in effect since May 2018, and that nothing would change in terms of privacy management.

“Like many companies, we have to prepare for Brexit,” said a Google spokesperson in a statement. ”Nothing about our services or our approach to privacy will change, including how we collect or process data, and how we respond to law enforcement demands for users’ information. The protections of the UK GDPR will still apply to these users.”

The Data Protection Act 2018, which currently supplements the GDPR within the UK, will continue to apply — and the GDPR is set to be incorporated into UK law alongside this Act.

The Guardian has noted that should the tech giant continue to keep their British data in Ireland, it will be more difficult for UK authorities to recover it in criminal investigations after Brexit.

There have also been concerns over the privacy protections employed by the United States, which are the weakest of any major economy.

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