DUBLIN -Ireland's High Court was due to decide on Friday whether the data regulator should proceed with a provisional order to halt Facebook user data transfers to the United States from the European Union.

Ireland's Data Protection Commission, the EU's lead regulator for Facebook, issued the order last August after Europe's highest court ruled that a transatlantic data transfer framework known as Privacy Shield was invalid.

Facebook called for a judicial review of the commission's decision, saying it threatened "devastating" and "irreversible" consequences for its business, which relies on processing user data to serve targeted online ads.

Ireland's High Court temporarily froze the order last September to allow the review to proceed. It was due to issue its ruling at around 1345 GMT.

The transatlantic argument stems from EU concerns that the surveillance regime in the United States may not respect the privacy rights of EU citizens when their personal data is sent to the United States for commercial use.

If upheld, the ruling by Ireland's Data Protection Commission would effectively end the privileged access companies in the United States have to personal data from Europe and put them on the same footing as companies in other nations outside the bloc.

  - Reuters