Facebook’s Clegg Says U.S. and EU Must Fix Data Transfer Mess

A top Facebook Inc. executive said the failure of the U.S. and European Union to resolve how data can be safely transferred across the Atlantic could be “a real hammer blow” to both regions’ recovery from the pandemic.

Striking a deal is “urgent and the legal clock is ticking,” Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice-president for global affairs, told reporters in an online press briefing Monday.

Last year’s shock ruling from the top EU court toppled a legal tool that allows EU data to be sent to U.S. servers. Judges were concerned that EU citizen’s data wouldn’t be safe in the ...