Germany's Federal Cartel Office Prohibits Facebook From Combining User Data From Different Sources

Introduction

In its decision of 06.02.2019 ("Decision")¹, Germany's Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) ("FCO") has imposed certain restrictions on Facebook² in its processing of user data based on its data processing policy and has ordered the termination of its conduct³ in this respect. Pursuant to the Decision, Facebook is obliged to change the terms of service that is imposed on its users who are based in Germany. This Decision is significant since it examines Facebook's comprehensive processing of personal data in terms of both data protection and competition law aspects.

FCO's Suspicions of Facebook: Beginning of the Story

Until now, individuals have been able to use Facebook's social network if they agreed to the terms of services stipulating that Facebook can collect data outside of the Facebook website on the internet, or on the smartphone apps, and assign this data to the related Facebook user account⁴. In this respect, not only the data collected