German Court Rules Against Facebook on Data Protection
January 24 2020 - 02:15PM
Dow Jones News
By Sara Germano
BERLIN -- A state court in Berlin ruled that some user terms set
by Facebook Inc. violate consumer-data protection law in the latest
example of back-and-forth between companies and courts to define
the boundaries of the European Union's extensive privacy rules.
The ruling Friday, from the highest court in the city-state of
Berlin, is a regional interpretation of the EU's General Data
Protection Regulation, which after nearly two years of being in
effect still isn't uniformly enforced across Europe.
The Berlin ruling partially upheld a complaint from the
Federation of German Consumer Organizations, finding that certain
Facebook terms violated a principle of GDPR requiring that
"informed consent" be given by users before their data is
collected.
The cited terms include a default setting to allow search
engines to display a link to a user's Facebook profile, and a
requirement that users allow Facebook to use their name and profile
picture for commercial purposes.
The consumer group bringing the suit, known in German by the
acronym VZBV, said in a statement that the ruling indicated that
entities like itself could seek legal enforcement of GDPR without
the involvement of an affected consumer.
"The Chamber of Justice has made it clear that consumer advice
centers can take action against violations of the GDPR," said Heiko
Dünkel, counsel at VZBV.
Part of the advocacy group's complaint, a challenge to
Facebook's slogan that the social network "is and remains free" of
cost, was struck down by the court.
Facebook said the case dated back to 2015 and terms cited by the
VZBZ in its complaint "have long ceased to exist" as the company
had updated its user settings.
"Independent of these German proceedings, we substantially
revised our Terms of Service and Data Policy in the spring of
2018," Facebook said.
Enforcement of GDPR, particularly in Germany where privacy
enjoys strong legal protection, has proved onerous for companies.
Last February, Germany's Federal Cartel Office instructed Facebook
to stop combining data it collects across its suite of products,
which include WhatsApp and Instagram, arguing that the practice was
anticompetitive.
That ruling was later overturned on appeal to a higher court,
which found insufficient proof that Facebook's data collection
methods violated competition law.
Facebook has argued in recent months that data is not a finite
resource capable of monopolization, like oil, but something that
can be both shared and stored. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company
is facing antitrust scrutiny by state and federal authorities in
the U.S. as well as by the European Commission, the EU's
enforcement arm.
Write to Sara Germano at sara.germano@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 24, 2020 14:00 ET (19:00 GMT)
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