Germany to restrict Facebook’s datagathering activities

BONN: Facebook has been ordered to curb its datacollection practices in Germany after a ruling on Thursday that the world’s largest social network abused its market dominance to gather information about users without their consent.

Germany, where privacy concerns run deep, is at the forefront of a global backlash against Facebook, fuelled by last year’s Cambridge Analytica scandal in which tens of millions of Facebook profiles were harvested without their users’ consent. The country’s antitrust watchdog objected in particular to how Facebook pools data on people from thirdparty apps — including its own WhatsApp and Instagram — and its online tracking of people who are not even members through Facebook ’like’ or ’share’ buttons.

Facebook said it would appeal the decision, saying the regulator underestimated the competition it faced, and undermined Europewide privacy rules that took effect last year.