Facebook users told only way to stop US spies harvesting personal data is to close account

Account holders on the social network in the UK and across Europe have been told that they should “consider closing” their accounts to avoid being snooped on by the American secret service.

The shock claim from a senior European lawyer affects hundreds of millions of users - following a lawsuit dubbed ‘the Facebook privacy case’.

The comments were made by EC attorney Bernhard Schima after privacy campaigners questioned the security of sensitive data unwittingly sent by EU citizens across the Atlantic.

A majority of the internet’s most popular websites are headquartered in the US – including web giants Google, Twitter and Amazon.

Activists are warning that personal information kept by the social media site is being left open to secret service agents to trawl through.

Online records held by Facebook include names and email and home addresses, as well as users' favourite bands, TV shows and who they are friends with on the site.

The remarks raise questions about privacy across the internet, with lawyers hearing complaints lodged against Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Skype and Yahoo.

The case at the European court of justice in Luxembourg centres on the role of the so-called 'Safe Harbour' network, which oversees the transmission of EU citizens’ data to the US.

Without the framework, it is against EU law to transmit private data outside of the EU. 

But, asked about those safeguards, European officials could not confirm that Safe Harbour rules protected users in the UK and Europe.

The case follows in the wake of the revelations about snooping by Edward Snowden, the whistleblower at the centre of NSA files leak. 

The number of people using Facebook has steadily increased since its inception in 2004, with an average 890 million daily active users registered by the company in December last year.

An opinion on the Safe Harbour framework from the ECJ is expected by 24 June.

Facebook declined to comment.