Italian antitrust watchdog AGCM has launched proceedings against Facebook for its failure to comply with an earlier order regarding improper commercial practices in its methods of collecting and using personal data. In a statement, the agency said Facebook had not heeded its request to properly inform users about the collection and use, for commercial reasons, of the data they release and could be fined up to EUR 5 million for “non-compliance”, as recently confirmed by the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio.
At the end of 2018, AGCM fined the social networking giant an initial EUR 5 million and required it to publish an amending statement on the homepage of its website for Italy, on the Facebook app and on the personal page of each registered Italian user. In its latest statement, the watched confirmed that Facebook removed the “it’s free and always will be!” tag line from its home page but failed to “adequately and immediately” inform consumers willing to register on the social network about the collection and use of their personal data for commercial purposes. It also failed to publish the amending statement.
