Maximilian Schrems is an Austrian lawyer, author, and privacy activist. He was able to end the transnational Safe Harbor agreement between the EU and the US and the EU-US Privacy Shield with his lawsuit before the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which is seen as a strong signal for fundamental rights protection in Europe.

He is chairman of the board of the NOYB initiative, which is dedicated to the enforcement of data protection rights.

Maximilian grew up in Salzburg and attended the Bundesrealgymnasium there before deciding to move to Vienna in 2007 to study law. Five years later, he successfully graduated. During his studies, he specialized in IT law and data protection. In 2011, he published a monograph on the legal situation of video surveillance in Austria. In the course of his semester abroad at Santa Clara University in California, he met representatives of the US corporation Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook Inc.), which led to his involvement with Facebook.