Facebook is abusing its dominant market power in Germany by illegally collecting data from users on other websites and merging it with their Facebook account, the country’s Federal Cartel Office announced in a preliminary legal assessment of the social network’s data sharing practices.
Andreas Mundt, the president of the Federal Cartel Office, said the investigation looked closely at the interplay of market dominance and data. While Facebook offered a free service to users on the one hand, the social network also held "attractive advertising space". Given the large quantities of personalized data it possesses, the company needs to comply with competition laws and guidelines.
The cartel office said it considers Facebook’s data collecting practices outside the social network to be "problematic". The sources Facebook can collect user information from and merge with its own website range from company-owned services like Instagram and Whatsapp to the websites and apps of third-parties connected to Facebook through embedded interfaces like the Facebook 'Like' button, even if users do not click on it.
Furthermore, the office said it found no evidence that Facebook obtained consent from users to track their data across the internet and merge it with their Facebook account. The extent and form of this practice violates mandatory EU privacy guidelines, said the regulator.Facebook is also abusing its dominant market power in that it requires users to accept all of its conditions or risk being cut off from the service, said the regulator. In doing so, Facebook makes the usage of its service continent on agreeing to these data sharing and processing practices, including the merging of data from outside sources with a user’s Facebook account. These user conditions are "inappropriate" and violate data protection guidelines to the detriment of users, it found.
The office noted that users were likely unaware their data was even being collected by Facebook from third-party interfaces or plug-ins, which can be found "million-fold" on German websites and apps.
Here too, the regulator said it found no evidence of user consent for this type of data collection and processing. The cartel office called on Facebook to introduce more "steering capabilities" for users that can limit these data collection practices.
The regulator has now turned its assessment over to Facebook, which will have an opportunity to respond to its criticisms and present its own justifications or proposals for solutions on the matter. The cartel office said it does not expect its investigation against Facebook — which will end in either its termination or an order from the regulator for Facebook to halt or change its practices rather than a fine — to be concluded before the early summer of 2018.
Facebook has repeatedly come under fire from privacy watchdogs and consumer groups in Germany for its perceived data protection violations. A Berlin court recently ruled that Facebook’s data sharing practices on the Facebook App Centre violated German data protection law.
The cartel office's announcement comes as the company has launched a major advertising campaign in Germany. Facebook's penetration in Germany has lagged other countries in part due to increased concern in the country about protecting privacy. Billboards across Germany feature ordinary people expressing their concerns about Facebook, along with explanations of how to use it better, Reuters reported.
