Facebook faces German antitrust privacy probe
- 8 years ago
The specific accusation is that Facebook is using unlawful terms and conditions related to its collection and use of user data, and given the T&Cs are a condition for access to its service the suspicion is that could constitute an abuse of a dominant market position.
The social network giant has faced plenty of privacy-related investigations and orders from European DPAs in recent times - including receiving a formal order from the French DPA last month to stop tracking non-users via cookies and social plug-ins; and back in summer 2015 court action from the Belgian DPA over a similar tracking issue.
The Bundeskartellamt's move is interesting as it seeks to link similar data-protection related privacy concerns with antitrust law - which carries higher potential fines for companies found to be abusing their market position.
The social network giant has faced plenty of privacy-related investigations and orders from European DPAs in recent times - including receiving a formal order from the French DPA last month to stop tracking non-users via cookies and social plug-ins; and back in summer 2015 court action from the Belgian DPA over a similar tracking issue.
The Bundeskartellamt's move is interesting as it seeks to link similar data-protection related privacy concerns with antitrust law - which carries higher potential fines for companies found to be abusing their market position.