The EU data protection Directive[2] and fundamental right were for a long time toothless in practice vis-à-vis American internet giants, like Google and Facebook and it is hard to determine the tipping point leading to a certain shift of mindset empowering European vision of the data protection online. Eventually, it took couple of determined individuals and one determined Court to shift the transnational data protection dynamics.
The goal of this paper is twofold: (1) mapping the developments leading to empowering the European vision of the adequate data protection online; and (2) discussing the impact of such process globally, including both: possibility of extraterritorial application of the EU data protection law as well as shaping attitude abroad through soft law and social norms shifting.
The main question to be answered is thus whether European data protection success story is only an example of resilience or also that of leadership: can data protection standards promoted in the EU create the ‘new normal’ for the online users and spill over globally?
