Facebook case forwarded to ECJ after Facebook appealed German competition authority’s order to halt data collection practices.
In recent times, Facebook has come under fire for its data collection practices, which span several integrated platforms. The company has been accused of ‘superprofiling’, and has been in court with German authorities regarding a pro-privacy order, to stop combining user data across platforms without consent. This order has been met with much resistance, and an appeal from Facebook has led German authorities to seek guidance from the European Court of Justice.
Facebook was accused of abuse of power for collecting and sharing data across platforms without user consent.
There has been major concern over Facebook sharing data between its platforms, including Instagram, WhatsApp, and Occulus as well as third party apps. This, coupled with the volume of data Facebook collects freely without the need for user consent has led to the tech giant being accused of abuse of power by German authorities. There has been some pushback on this, particularly from Düsseldorf’s Higher Regional Court Judge in preliminary hearings regarding the matter. Judge Jürgen Kühnen argued that Facebook’s data use did not result in an abuse of its dominant position in the market. The contention here is that Facebook’s ability to build a unique database for each individual gives the tech firm an unfair market advantage over other companies who do not have access to that much intricate data on users. The Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Office, FCO) claims that this data collection is not lawful under the EU’s legal framework, as it essentially does not give users a choice.
German Competition Authority has attempted to place restrictions on Facebook’s collection of user data.
Earlier this year, Germany’s competition authority placed restrictions on Facebook’s data-processing activities. Facebook was ordered to stop combining data collected from WhatsApp, Instagram and other third parties, until they had received voluntary user consent. This would have led to Facebook needing to considerably reduce its collection and combining of user data, until it receives consent from users. Under Facebook’s terms and conditions, users operate on the social networking platform under the precondition that their data would be collected. However, in February of this year, the competition authority came to a preliminary decision regarding this practice and ordered Facebook to stop combining and collecting user data across these platforms until it has received genuine consent from users. This decision, however, was not final and left room for appeal from Facebook.
Facebook appealed the decision, arguing that its terms allowed users to fully benefit from their services, and as a result this case has been forwarded to the ECJ.
Facebook appealed the decision made by the German Competition Authority in February of this year. At the time, Facebook said in a blog; “While we’ve cooperated with the Bundeskartellamt for nearly three years and will continue our discussions, we disagree with their conclusions and intend to appeal so that people in Germany continue to benefit fully from all our services.” The German authority maintains that the social media company is guilty of a level of exploitative abuse which violates EU regulation. As a result, questions regarding this case have been forwarded to the European Court of Justice in order to arrive at a final conclusion.
