DOMINANT DATA
Germany’s antitrust office targets Facebook and its targeted advertising,
BRUSSELS— Facebook is on a collision course with one of Europe’s most powerful regulators as Germany’s Federal Cartel Office attacked the way the social network giant scoops up information on how users surf to drive its advertising revenue.
Users are unaware that Facebook — seen as Germany’s dominant social network — gathers data on how they visit other websites and don’t appear to consent to how that data is used, the Federal Cartel Office (FCO), or Bundeskartellamt, said in an email statement.
People only have the choice to accept the entire package or stop using the network, it said, attacking “inappropriate” terms of service widely used by internet sites. The FCO says it isn’t investigating how Facebook collects information on how its users act on the social network, only on their internet habits outside of Facebook’s walls.
Facebook generates vast revenues from serving targeted advertising to users it knows well. German regulators may seek changes from the company, saying Facebook could now justify its conduct or “offer possible solutions” to address concerns that its data collection and use may be an abuse of its market power.
A final decision won’t come before mid-2018 and may see the FCO close the case, accept commitments from Facebook or issue an order for Facebook to cease certain behaviour.
No consent
“We are mostly concerned about the collection of data outside Facebook’s social network and the merging of this data into a user’s Facebook account,” FCO president Andreas Mundt said in the statement. “We are not convinced that users have given their effective consent to Facebook’s data tracking and the merging of data into their Facebook account.”
Facebook immediately slammed regulators for painting an “inaccurate picture” of how it operates, honing in on the criticism that it is dominant, an important legal term that might curb future behaviour.
“Although Facebook is popular in Germany, we are not dominant,” the company said in an emailed statement. “A dominant company oper- ates in a world where customers don’t have alternatives,” whereas Facebook is just one of many sites people use.
The company said it’s working with data protection officials to handle any privacy concerns, a swipe at the FCO which is using its formidable powers as an antitrust authority to examine information concerns usually dealt with by data protection agencies with fewer tools to fine or stop companies’ actions.
‘Significant move’
“This is a significant move to better protect consumers in digital markets. It is encouraging that privacy is being considered an element in antitrust cases,” said Agustin Reyna, team leader for digital rights at European consumer association BEUC. “This was the missing piece in competition policy and this change of practice is good news. Facebook’s take-it-or-leave-it business model means that consumers have no choice but to hand over their data and accept it to being used for invasive targeted advertising.”
The probe tests the limits of competition law by weighing an internet platform’s relationship with its users and the value of the data they provide.
That may provide a template for more enforcement as other antitrust authorities and politicians seek ways to handle complaints about how internet platforms have swelled rapidly, attracting hundreds of millions of users and grabbing advertising money that once went to newspapers and broadcasters.
Michael Carrier, co-director at the Rutgers Institute for Information Policy and Law in New Jersey, said there haven’t been any significant antitrust cases challenging the abuse of data collected on users.
“This is a big deal,” Carrier said. “Data is an uncharted frontier of antitrust enforcement.”
If regulators begin looking at the accumulation of data more closely, it could pose challenges for big American tech firms. “Several large tech companies are valuable because of the data they collect on users,” he said. “If their use of data is an antitrust problem, that could have a real effect.”