Will the US regulate Facebook? Europe is about to do just that

A global tech earthquake is coming, and the epicenter is thousands of miles from Silicon Valley.

The European Union is preparing to enforce a sweeping new data protection law that gives consumers much more control over how their personal details are used. Companies are scrambling to comply.

Regulators say the new rules are necessary to protect consumers in an era of huge cyberattacks and data leaks, highlighted by Facebook's admission that the personal details of millions of its users were abused.

Here's what's going on:

What is it?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect across the European Union on May 25.

It seeks to expand and update data rules that have been in place since 1995 -- long before hacks, security breaches and data leaks became a common occurrence.