Facebook Data Collection: Germany Investigates Social Network 'Extorting' User Info

Germany may soon launch an investigation into Facebook over the social network’s broad privacy policy that allows it to collect massive amounts of information from users.

They, in part, blame the "fine print" of Facebook's terms of service. The Federal Cartel Office, Germany’s national competition regulator, believes Facebook is “extorting” its users by making them agree to terms and conditions they may not fully understand in order to use the popular service. German regulators have also floated the possibility that anti-trust actions could use this angle in the courts.

Read: Why Was Google Fined $2.7 Billion By The European Union?

According to the German agency, the popularity of Facebook and near-necessity of being on the social network—a platform that boasts more than two billion monthly users—means that users have little choice but to accept any demand Facebook makes of them.

The new approach to antitrust law may have ramifications for Facebook beyond its operations inside Germany’s borders—especially if the case catches the eye of the European Union, which has already cracked down on U.S. tech companies for what it deems to be anti-competitive behavior.

Germany began its probe into Facebook in March 2016, when it began examining the social network’s habit of collecting massive amounts of personal information from its users to create profiles that are used to deliver targeted advertisements from companies that purchase ad space.

Andreas Mundt, the Cartel Office’s president, said last week that he is "eager to present first results" of the Facebook investigation later this year. According to Mundt, the investigation into the social network deals with "central questions ensuring competition in the digital world in the future."

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According to the Federal Cartel Office at the time of the initial investigation, it had concerns over the extent to which Facebook requires its users to surrender personal information and how clear those requirements were made to users within the service’s terms of use.

The investigation by the Federal Cartel Office is not the first time Facebook has come under fire in Germany. The company was also targeted by privacy and consumer groups in Germany over its “real name” policy, which prohibited users from using pseudonyms or other names in favor of their given name.

Facebook has also come under investigation over its plans to merge data from WhatsApp, the popular communication application it bought in 2014.

Germany’s Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information banned Facebook from collecting data from the communications platform, and the European Union charged Facebook for misleading regulators at the time of its purchase of WhatsApp.

The potential for penalty against Facebook comes in the wake of a massive antitrust fine against Google handed down by the E.U. The search giant was hit with a $2.7 billion punishment over its practice of allowing paid advertisers to be given better placement and visibility in search results.