What is the difference between GDPR and Cloud Act?

GDPR is an EU-wide privacy statute that limits what organisations may do with individuals’ personal data and how that data can be transferred outside the bloc. 

The CLOUD Act is a U.S. criminal-procedure law that expands when U.S. authorities may compel cloud providers to hand over data—even if the bits sit in Europe. 

One protects data subjects; the other empowers investigators. Because both reach across borders, they can collide, forcing companies to balance EU obligations to withhold data against U.S. orders to disclose it.

GDPR and the CLOUD Act pursue opposite goals—one to shield personal data, the other to expose it for legitimate policing—yet both claim global reach. Companies operating trans-Atlantically must design governance that can survive being pulled in both directions at once.