Facebook Loses Antitrust Case In Germany Over Data Collection (nytimes.com) 9
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: In a decision that could further embolden European governments to take on large tech platforms, Germany's top court ruled on Tuesday that Facebook had abused its dominance in social media to illegally harvest data about its users. The ruling by the Federal Court of Justice, upholding a decision by Germany's antitrust watchdog, is a major victory for proponents of tougher regulation of the world's largest technology companies. The case had been closely watched after German regulators used a novel interpretation of competition law to rule against the social media giant last year. The authorities said Facebook broke competition laws by combining data it collected about users across its different platforms, including WhatsApp and Instagram, as well as from outside websites and third-party apps. In Germany, Facebook now must alter how it processes data about its users. It was ordered to allow people to block the company from combining their Facebook data with information about their activities on other apps and websites.
The decision is a direct shot at Facebook's business model, which relies on collecting reams of data about people in order to offer more targeted advertising. The authorities argued that Facebook unfairly used its dominance to collect data about millions of users of third-party sites that used tools like Facebook's "like" and "share" buttons, and an analytics service called Facebook Pixel. Regulators concluded that consumers faced a false choice: Agree to hand over vast amounts of personal data or not use Facebook's ubiquitous social media services at all. [...] The decision may not be the last word. A lower court still must issue a ruling on the matter, a process some antitrust attorneys view as a formality given the high court's strong-worded ruling. In theory, the lower court could rule in Facebook's favor, setting up another appeal to the federal high court. Another wild card: German officials could send the matter to the European Court of Justice, the European Union high court that resolves many thorny legal questions from member states, said Rupprecht Podszun, a professor of competition law at the University of Dusseldorf.
The decision is a direct shot at Facebook's business model, which relies on collecting reams of data about people in order to offer more targeted advertising. The authorities argued that Facebook unfairly used its dominance to collect data about millions of users of third-party sites that used tools like Facebook's "like" and "share" buttons, and an analytics service called Facebook Pixel. Regulators concluded that consumers faced a false choice: Agree to hand over vast amounts of personal data or not use Facebook's ubiquitous social media services at all. [...] The decision may not be the last word. A lower court still must issue a ruling on the matter, a process some antitrust attorneys view as a formality given the high court's strong-worded ruling. In theory, the lower court could rule in Facebook's favor, setting up another appeal to the federal high court. Another wild card: German officials could send the matter to the European Court of Justice, the European Union high court that resolves many thorny legal questions from member states, said Rupprecht Podszun, a professor of competition law at the University of Dusseldorf.
Enough with the EU countries restrictive laws (Score:3, Insightful)
The EU countries (lately France, Germany, and before that, Spain) have anti-US companies.
That's okay... every country gets to make up their own protectionist policisies.
FB should tell Germany to shove off, close its Germany offices, and offer no services tailored to them.
So should Google, MicroSoft, and anyone else being target for being a successful US business the EU can't regulate enough.
Sorry, EU. You can't innovate. You can only regulate.
FB - leave Germany now.
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Re:Enough with the EU countries restrictive laws (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Enough with the EU countries restrictive laws (Score:4, Insightful)
indeed.
Social Computing has gone in the completely wrong direction - social manipulation instead of social enablement.
Facebook is essentially privatised surveillance and propaganda masquerading as a social media and advertising platform, to get around local laws that prevent governments from doing both whilst simultaneously earning income for the interests involved.
There's been plenty of instances where Facebook was caught interfering with elections by trending fake news articles that targeted political opponents (e.g. the heatstreet debacle and new knowledge), and cases where Facebook removes accounts and content of evidence of crimes by certain countries (suppression of Palestinians showing evidence of warcrimes and crimes against humanity by embedding Israeli intelligence moderators into Facebook).
While any of our data is collected, we're at risk of abuse. While facebook manipulates the information others share with us (see recent slashdot story regarding suppression of workplace discussions of unionisation on the platform) we're at risk.
It seems the choice to use the service to communicate with friends and families comes at a cost of being spied on, lied to, and have information that goes against powerful political or economic interests suppressed. Even worse is when Facebook is used by governments to blackmail users into cooperating with intelligence operations (e.g. Gays in Palestine). I'd bet money it's also being leveraged as a source of targeting data.
No - trying to reign in Facebook isn't anti-american, unless american means spied on, lied to and manipulated.
Re: (Score:2)
Just remember that over 94% of the worlds population do not live in the USA, US laws are not valid in other countries, and the rest of the world is getting sick of the US bullying everyone else.
Re: (Score:2)
It would be great if facebook left all EU countries and deleted the information for all european FB users.
East Choice! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
"Regulators concluded that consumers faced a false choice: Agree to hand over vast amounts of personal data or not use Facebook's ubiquitous social media services at all." ---Yup! Easy decision. Wasn't hard at all!
Not so easy at all, if your family / friends / neighbours / colleagues all use Facebook / WhatsApp to socialize, organize and stay in touch, and you don't want to be the technophobe caveman.
Next steps (Score:2)
Facebook is too big and too scary, and at least the EU is doing something about it. I would like to opt out of all facebook everything, thanks very much.