Germany Facebook a buses dominance in the way it harvests and monetizes user data
0Germany Facebook a.buses dominance in the way it harvests and monetizes user data.
(Reuters) — Germany’s cartel office has found that Facebook abused its dominant market position, in a ruling that questioned the U.S. social network’s model of monetizing the personal data of its 2 billion users through targeted advertising.
Presenting preliminary findings of its 20-month-old probe, the Federal Cartel Office said Facebook held a dominant position among social networks – a characterization that Facebook repudiated as “inaccurate”.
The authority objected to Facebook’s requirement that it gain access to third-party data when an account is opened – including from its own WhatsApp and Instagram products – as well as its tracking of which sites its users access.
“Above all we see the collection of data outside the Facebook social network and its inclusion in the Facebook account as problematic,” cartel office President Andreas Mundt said in a statement.