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ARTICLE · 15 MARCH 2016

German Federal Cartel Office Considers User Data As An Indicator For Market Power

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On 2 March 2016, the German Federal Cartel Office ("FCO") has initiated proceedings against Facebook to investigate whether the social network abuses its market position by infringing data protection law.

GermanyAntitrust/Competition Law
Alexander Rinne
Alexander Rinne
Fiona Schaeffer
Fiona Schaeffer
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On 2 March 2016, the German Federal Cartel Office ("FCO") has initiated proceedings against Facebook to investigate whether the social network abuses its market position by infringing data protection law. The FCO considers to assess Facebook's market position on the basis of the amount of user data collected by Facebook.

FACEBOOK INVESTIGATION

The FCO suspects Facebook to have a dominant market position on the market for social networks because of the amount of personal user data which Facebook collects from various sources. The FCO highlights that

"For advertising-financed internet services such as Facebook, user data are hugely important. [...] By creating user profiles the company enables its advertising customers to better target their advertising activities."

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