Facebook Loses Antitrust Decision in Germany Over Data Collection
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 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 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.
[...] Facebook said it would continue to fight and wouldn't make any immediate changes, arguing that it has months before it must comply. "We will continue to defend our position that there is no antitrust abuse," Facebook said in a statement.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Thursday June 25 2020, @10:15AM (2 children)
Brave words, either they believe that they will eventually win or the required separation of data is easy, simple and will go fast to implement or they are preparing to cut Germany out of the facebook family (highly doubtful, so many juicy datapoints).
If they lose I wonder, possibly even if they don't lose, I wonder which EU country will be next in line to demand the similar or if it will be EU regulation on a organizational or continental level.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Thursday June 25 2020, @10:23AM
Well, when their appeal is accepted, the clock on those "months before it must comply" stops. Because accepting the appeal means the decision of the lower court may be somehow or somewhat wrong.
So, there are some quarters worth of income to be shown for the stock exchange.
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Interesting) by TheRaven on Thursday June 25 2020, @12:37PM
Facebook is already well into taking-the-piss territory in the EU. The EU competition regulator approved their purchase of WhatsApp on the condition that WhatsApp user data would never be combined with Facebook user data. Facebook waited about a year before saying 'actually, that's too hard to comply with, we're not going to bother'. Personally, I'd love to see the regulator force Facebook to sell of WhatsApp with the same requirement baked into the sale. I think the value would be pretty low if you couldn't use it as a data harvesting platform. Maybe cheap enough that the Signal Technology Foundation could buy it...
Note that the EU is already recommending Signal for any confidential communication, so it's unclear how long WhatsApp's dominance will last.
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by leon_the_cat on Thursday June 25 2020, @11:06AM
and we are still waiting...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2020, @02:23PM (4 children)
Facebook is beholden to the US govt and is therefore a de facto spy agency. The EU is 100% correct in pricing this activity at a level that is uncomfortable for Facebook. They EU for whatever reason can't make chips or write software themselves, and can't directly antagonize the USA so this is a neat solution. Yes, you are spying on us. Yes, it will cost you.
(Score: 3, Touché) by PiMuNu on Thursday June 25 2020, @04:44PM (2 children)
> They [sic] EU for whatever reason can't make chips
Ahem, ARM might like to comment on that...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2020, @05:42PM
ARM is a product of Thatcher's Britain. As brutal as her government was to the masses working in "old industries", she did create a bright technology nexus in Britain.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2020, @07:48PM
And what a sad comment that would be, from a fabless wonder...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arm_Holdings#Business_model [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2020, @07:44PM
As a Total War o'Bullshit is raging at 500% shrillness right this moment between FB and US presidency, your statement's veracity is... totally on a level of said war.