Facebook Under Fire as German Antitrust Cops Target Ad Model
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, 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.
