The Federal Cartel Office, Germany’s antitrust watchdog, is severely restricting the collection of user data by Facebook after a ruling on Thursday that the social media giant abused its market.
The company will only be able to use data from various non-Facebook programs and apps that it owns, such as WhatsApp and Instagram, with explicit user consent. Currently, Facebook bundles together much of the information it gleans from users across its various platforms.
“In future, Facebook will no longer be allowed to force its users to agree to the practically unrestricted collection and assigning of non-Facebook data to their Facebook accounts,” Andreas Mundt, president of the antitrust watchdog, said on Thursday in Bonn.
Read more: The politics of deleting online hate speech
Facebook to appeal
The ruling, which came after a one-year investigation, does not yet have legal force and Facebook have a month to appeal the ruling, which it says it intends to do.
“The Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Office) underestimates the fierce competition we face in Germany, misinterprets our compliance with the GDPR, and threatens the mechanism European law provides for ensuring consistent data protection standards across the EU,” Facebook said.
Read more: 15 years on, is it time to #DeleteFacebook?
Cartel Office’s ruling
- WhatsApp and Instagram can still collect data from their respective users, however it will only be allowed to pool this information with a user’s Facebook data if that user provides their consent.
- Facebook can only collect data from third-party websites, such as interfaces that have a “like” or “share” button, with the user’s permission. If consent is not given, Facebook can only collect the data to a very limited extent.
- The cartel office said that the extent to which Facebook collects data without the consent of a user is “abusive.”
- It said Facebook could face fines of up to 10 percent of its annual global revenue, which grew by 37 percent to $55.8 billion (€49.2 billion) if it fails to comply.
- The antitrust watchdog said Facebook dominates the German market for social networks with 23 million daily and 32 million monthly users, a market share of 95 percent. It pointed out that one of its competitors, Google+, plans to discontinue its social network by April 2019.
- However, in its calculations, the cartel office did not consider Snapchat, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Xing as competitors to Facebook. It said those services “offer only a selection of social networking services.” It claimed that even if they were included, Facebook, with Instagram and Whatsapp, would still dominate the market share.
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Fighting for the internet: Social media, governments and tech companies
Free speech or illegal content?
Whether hate speech, propaganda or activism, governments across the globe have upped efforts to curb content deemed illegal from circulating on social networks. From drawn-out court cases to blanket bans, DW examines how some countries try to stop the circulation of illicit content while others attempt to regulate social media.
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Fighting for the internet: Social media, governments and tech companies
Social media law
After a public debate in Germany, a new law on social media came into effect in October. The legislation imposes heavy fines on social media companies, such as Facebook, for failing to take down posts containing hate speech. Facebook and other social media companies have complained about the law, saying that harsh rules might lead to unnecessary censorship.
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Fighting for the internet: Social media, governments and tech companies
Right to be forgotten
In 2014, the European Court of Justice ruled that European citizens had the right to request search engines, such as Google and Bing, remove “inaccurate, inadequate, irrelevant or excessive” search results linked to their name. Although Google has complied with the ruling, it has done so reluctantly, warning that it could make the internet as “free as the world’s least free place.”
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Fighting for the internet: Social media, governments and tech companies
Blanket ban
In May 2017, Ukraine imposed sanctions on Russian social media platforms and web services. The blanket ban affected millions of Ukrainian citizens, many of whom were anxious about their data. The move prompted young Ukrainians to protest on the streets, calling for the government to reinstate access to platforms that included VKontakte (VK), Russia’s largest social network.
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Fighting for the internet: Social media, governments and tech companies
Safe Harbor
In 2015, the European Court of Justice ruled that Safe Harbor, a 15-year-old pact between the US and EU that allowed the transfer of personal data without prior approval, was effectively invalid. Austrian law student Max Schrems launched the legal proceedings against Facebook in response to revelations made by former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, Edward Snowden.
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Fighting for the internet: Social media, governments and tech companies
Regulation
In China, the use of social media is highly regulated by the government. Beijing has effectively blocked access to thousands of websites and platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Instead, China offers its citizens access to local social media platforms, such as Weibo and WeChat, which boast hundreds of millions of monthly users.
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Fighting for the internet: Social media, governments and tech companies
Twitter bans Russia-linked accounts
Many politicians and media outlets blame Russia’s influence for Donald Trump’s election victory in 2016. Moscow reportedly used Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Instagram to shape public opinion on key issues. In October 2017, Twitter suspended over 2,750 accounts due to alleged Russian propaganda. The platform also banned ads from RT (formerly Russia Today) and the Sputnik news agency.
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Fighting for the internet: Social media, governments and tech companies
Facebook announces propaganda-linked tool
With social media under pressure for allowing alleged Russian meddling, Facebook announced a new project to combat such efforts in November 2017. The upcoming page will give users a chance to check if they “liked” or followed an alleged propaganda account on Facebook or Instagram. Meanwhile, Facebook has come under fire for not protecting user data in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Author: Lewis Sanders IV (dj)
dv/msh (AFP, dpa, Reuters)
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