After a five-year dispute between the Federal Cartel Office and Meta, which was partly fought in the highest courts, it is now finally clear: the American group has the right to combine and process users’ personal information from different services of the platform. Operators like Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram are not allowed to do so without their consent. The German antitrust watchdog had already ordered the company to do so in 2019, but Meta filed a lawsuit against it, citing violation of its authority. The case went to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which ruled in favor of the Federal Cartel Office in 2023. The Bonn authority has now concluded its proceedings and Meta has withdrawn the complaint lodged with the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court.
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as a result Antitrust watchdogs are talking about a “holistic package of measures”Which gives users “much better options in terms of linking their data.” For example, Meta has introduced an account overview through which users can decide largely independently and informedly whether they want to use different group services in isolation or link them. Are. There are also cookie settings to isolate data from Facebook and other group services, exceptions to combining information even for third-party providers that rely on Facebook logins, and an upstream guide in the data policy.
Salary or consent is under review
Antitrust watchdogs do not believe that all their concerns have been fully addressed. For example, they point out that the EU Commission is currently investigating Meta’s “pay or consent” payment model based on the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Overall, however, the steps taken by the Group are considered sufficient “to waive enforcement measures and terminate proceedings on a discretionary basis”. The central point is that using Facebook no longer requires that “you consent to the unlimited collection and allocation of data to your user account,” Andreas Mundt, chairman of the Federal Cartel Office, said with satisfaction. With regard to legal clarity and means of intervention, the situation today is completely different from what it was five years ago. Jutta Gürkman from the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (vzbv) is pleased: It is now officially clear that companies like Meta are not allowed to exploit their market power for unbridled exploration of data.
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Data protection officer: Independent control over secret services is at risk
