Facebook had sought to block a preliminary decision from Ireland's Data Protection Commission, which would prevent the social networking giant from transferring European users' data to U.S. servers. Ireland's High Court rejected that effort Friday, writing, "I refuse all of the reliefs sought by and dismiss the claims made by it in the proceedings."
The decision effectively ensures that Facebook will have to dramatically restructure its data storage operation to keep user data from the European Union siloed off. Facebook has previously said that such a requirement would "materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations."
Irish regulators will now have to finalize the decision and seek approval from other EU privacy regulators before it goes forward.