Facebook has lost a major battle against an EU privacy law, one that would prevent EU data from being sent to the US.

It’s no secret Facebook makes its money off of data. Since most of its products and services are free, the customer is the product and their data a gold mine. As a result, Facebook funnels all the data it collects back to its servers in the US.

Facebook was fighting to block the EU ruling from moving forward, but Ireland’s High Court dismissed Facebook’s attempts, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The data regulation could still be months away, as Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) will need to finalize the rules. Once finalized, they will still need to be approved by the EU’s other privacy regulators. Ultimately, however, the road has been paved by Facebook’s failure to block the effort.

Should the EU’s rules go into effect, they could have profound repercussions on a wide range of industries that will have to take steps to keep EU data within the EU. It’s little wonder that Microsoft has already committed itself to that outcome.