In the United States, data privacy is generally viewed through the lens of consumer protection. Most laws and regulations around data privacy in the US are thus designed to ensure that businesses are being fair to their users and customers. Provided businesses adhere to certain requirements, their processing of user or customer data for commercial purposes is seen as fair game in the US.
In the EU, data privacy is a fundamental right enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. That view underlies many of the requirements set forth in the GDPR and various European court rulings that subject technology companies to rules in Europe that are more stringent than what they face in the US (such as the recent EU ruling that prohibited Meta from requiring its users to consent to behavioral ad targeting).
