Tech Brief: German Anti-Trust Watchdog Prohibits Facebook From Combining User Data From Different Sources
As Facebook faces continuing pressure to expand its data collection practices to feed its advertising machinery, German antitrust watchdog Bundeskartellamt (aka Federal Cartel Office) decisively ruled that the social networking giant abused its dominance as a market power to collect and merge user data outside of its platform. Stating that the company's terms of service, and the manner in which it collects and uses data, are in violation of Europe's GDPR data protection regulations, the competition authority also imposed restrictions on Facebook, making it impossible for it to combine data from apps like WhatsApp, Instagram and other third-party sources without users' explicit consent.
"Private use of the network is subject to Facebook being able to collect an almost unlimited amount of any type of user data from third party sources, allocate these to the users' Facebook accounts and use them for numerous data processing processes. Third-party sources are Facebook-owned services such as Instagram or WhatsApp, but also third party websites which include interfaces such as the "Like" or "Share" buttons. Where such visible interfaces are embedded in websites and apps, the data flow to Facebook will already start when these are called up or installed. It is not even necessary, e.g., to scroll over or click on a "Like" button. Calling up a website with an embedded "Like" button will start the data flow. Millions of such interfaces can be encountered on German websites and on apps," reads the ruling.
Facebook, which recently announced plans to merge the infrastructure powering Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram so as to allow users to communicate across the three apps, has said it will appeal the decision (while conveniently ignoring concerns about shadow profiles and tracking non-Facebook users), adding "Popularity is not dominance" while quoting YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter, Reddit, among others as competitors, and that it's up to "data protection regulators - not competition authorities - to determine whether companies are living up to their responsibilities." Facebook also took to the blog post to reiterate its upcoming "Clear History" tool that allows users "to see the information we receive from the websites and services who use our business tools and disassociate it from your account."
"Facebook has always been about connecting you with people and information you're interested in. We tailor each person's Facebook experience so it's unique to you, and we use a variety of information to do this – including the information you include on your profile, news stories you like or share and what other services share with us about your use of their websites and apps. Using information across our services also helps us protect people's safety and security, including, for example, identifying abusive behavior and disabling accounts tied to terrorism, child exploitation and election interference across both Facebook and Instagram," wrote Yvonne Cunnane, Head of Data Protection, Facebook Ireland and Nikhil Shanbhag, Director and Associate General Counsel, in the post.
"Private use of the network is subject to Facebook being able to collect an almost unlimited amount of any type of user data from third party sources, allocate these to the users' Facebook accounts and use them for numerous data processing processes. Third-party sources are Facebook-owned services such as Instagram or WhatsApp, but also third party websites which include interfaces such as the "Like" or "Share" buttons. Where such visible interfaces are embedded in websites and apps, the data flow to Facebook will already start when these are called up or installed. It is not even necessary, e.g., to scroll over or click on a "Like" button. Calling up a website with an embedded "Like" button will start the data flow. Millions of such interfaces can be encountered on German websites and on apps," reads the ruling.
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| Facebook's rivals across different verticals, or are they? (Image: Newsroom) |
Facebook, which recently announced plans to merge the infrastructure powering Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram so as to allow users to communicate across the three apps, has said it will appeal the decision (while conveniently ignoring concerns about shadow profiles and tracking non-Facebook users), adding "Popularity is not dominance" while quoting YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter, Reddit, among others as competitors, and that it's up to "data protection regulators - not competition authorities - to determine whether companies are living up to their responsibilities." Facebook also took to the blog post to reiterate its upcoming "Clear History" tool that allows users "to see the information we receive from the websites and services who use our business tools and disassociate it from your account."
"Facebook has always been about connecting you with people and information you're interested in. We tailor each person's Facebook experience so it's unique to you, and we use a variety of information to do this – including the information you include on your profile, news stories you like or share and what other services share with us about your use of their websites and apps. Using information across our services also helps us protect people's safety and security, including, for example, identifying abusive behavior and disabling accounts tied to terrorism, child exploitation and election interference across both Facebook and Instagram," wrote Yvonne Cunnane, Head of Data Protection, Facebook Ireland and Nikhil Shanbhag, Director and Associate General Counsel, in the post.
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