It has been particularly relevant since, in the wake of the first decision from Austria, Google has started to make additional settings available in relation to what information can be collected via the tool.Privacy Shield invalidated When the Privacy Shield legislation was invalidated in 2020, this had far-reaching consequences for US online services operating in Europe: They were no longer allowed to transfer data of European citizens to the US as this would make data of European citizens vulnerable to American mass surveillance - a clear violation of the European GDPR.NOYB says: "While this (=invalidation of Privacy Shield) sent shock waves through the tech industry, US providers and EU data exporters have largely ignored the case.Data not adequately protected The issue at hand is that due to the American CLOUD Act US authorities are able to demand personal data from Google, Facebook and other US providers, even when they are operating outside of the US, so in Europe for instance.The standard contractual clauses invoked by the website operator do not help, as recognized in 2020 by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in its decision on the "Privacy Shield" (Schrems II)."