German justice has ordered the American giant Facebook, limit the collection of user data in the country. Indeed, according to a decision of the German Federal Court, the social network no longer has the possibility of collecting the private data of its users without first obtaining a specific agreement. “There is no serious doubt about Facebook’s dominant position in the German social media market” said the Court, finding that the social network is abusing this position by allowing itself to improperly collect the personal data of its customers.
Absence of consent according to the court
Users therefore have no choice but to leave Facebook track what they are doing online if they want to use social network services. According to Peter Meier-Beck, President of the Court « Facebook must let users keep this information to themselves ”. He also insisted on the information gathered by Facebook, outside the platform, notably by the use of buttons ” I love “, which are integrated into web pages. So he drew attention to the tracking pixels, which track users’ online activities on the sites they visit, without their being aware of them. This constitutes omnipresence and a lack of consent which gives the power to the constitutional court to invoke at the same time the antitrust law, as well as the data protection regulation.
“A decisive instrument of economic power”
This ensures regulation in Europe how the information should be collected. Note that this decision of the German Federal Court confirms that of the German competition authority. Andreas Mundt, boss of the latter, said that “Private data is a decisive instrument of economic power and of the place on the internet market. When data is illegally collected, intervention by the competition authority must be possible ”. She can ask Facebook, to stop integrating the data into the advertising tools sold to advertisers, without the users’ consent.
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