Germany Restricts Facebook’s Data Gathering

European regulators have also been empowered by a tough new E.U. law, called the General Data Protection Regulation, or G.D.P.R., governing how companies and institutions handle people’s personal information. The law allows regulators to fine companies up to 4 percent of their global revenue, or about $2.1 billion in the case of Facebook. Regulators in Ireland and Britain are among those now investigating Facebook’s data-handling practices under the new law.

Among other rules, the new European law generally requires companies to obtain a person’s freely given consent before collecting and using their personal information.

German regulators made their ruling under the country’s competition law. But Mr. Mundt said Facebook had also violated the E.U. data protection law by essentially forcing users to agree that the company could freely amass their data — a process he referred to as “involuntary” consent. He added that, while many people understood that Facebook collected data about their activities on the social network, they did not understand that Facebook could collect data about them from millions of non-Facebook sites.

The ruling prohibits Facebook’s all-or-nothing approach to amassing personal information about its users. It allows Facebook to continue collecting data about people on its own platforms. But it will need permission before collecting data about its users from non-Facebook sites and combining it with their Facebook account data. It will also need permission to combine Facebook user account data with user data on company-owned services like WhatsApp and Instagram.

“We are giving choice back to the consumer,” Mr. Mundt said, adding that “we make sure that Facebook is not gathering data in an amount that might hinder competitors.”

In its statement, Facebook said that the company complied with and supported the E.U. data protection law. It also said that the antitrust agency was overstepping its jurisdiction and wading into issues that should be regulated by Europe’s data protection agencies.

The decision “underestimates the fierce competition we face in Germany, misinterprets our compliance with G.D.P.R. and undermines the mechanisms European law provides for ensuring consistent data protection standards across the E.U.,” the Facebook statement said.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/technology/germany-facebook-data.html?partner=rss&emc=rss