News. Protection and preventing abusive competition are two sides of the same coin when it comes to social networks, according to the Germans, whose anti-trust authority accuses Facebook of abusing its dominant position.
The German authority objects 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 how it tracks 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 according to Reuters.
Germany’s anti-trust authority and the EU anti-trust authority with commisioner Margrethe Vestager are working together on these anti trust matters.
