The CLOUD Act and Google: How it affects your data
Does the CLOUD act make it easier for foreign nations to access my U.S.-based data?
Yes. The CLOUD act removes many of the obstacles currently in place when another country wants your data stored on a Google server inside the United States. This is where civil rights organizations and Google disagree on the merits of the law.
Because of how any data requests must go through the court system, then be subject to appeal or approval from a higher court, countries are forming their own laws that try and force companies like Google to hand over data without any court involvement if the company wants to do business there out of frustration with the process.
The U.S. also tries to claim that U.S. law requires a U.S. company to hand over data even when it's hosted outside the country like we're seeing in the Microsoft case presented to the Supreme Court.