Twitter accounts outside of the US now fall under EU data protection rules

Twitter revised its privacy policy over the weekend, changing where it handles the account information of users outside the U.S. and clarifying some points.

As of Saturday, account information for Twitter users outside the U.S. is handled by Twitter International in Dublin, Ireland. This means that all account information will be subject to Irish privacy and data protection law, which is based on the European Union’s Data Protection Directive, Twitter said on its site.

The accounts of U.S. users will still be handled by Twitter’s head office in San Francisco under U.S. law.

Dublin is popular with U.S. tech companies, which often base their international and EU operations there. The country’s favorable corporation tax regime is often seen as a reason for IT companies to settle there—as is the small staff of its privacy regulator, which has a staff of just 29 to tackle domestic and international companies.

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