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ARTICLE · 12 SEPTEMBER 2018

The "Facebook Fan Page" Case: Expanding The Definition Of "Data Controller"

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The Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") has held that the administrator of a fan page hosted by a social network, such as Facebook, may be deemed a "data controller", with joint, if not equal, liability for the processing of personal data (Unabhängiges Landeszentrum für Datenschutz Schleswig-Holstein v Wirtschaftsakademie Schleswig-Holstein GmbH, in the presence of Facebook Ireland Ltd (C-210/16)).

United KingdomMedia, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment
Humam Al-Jibouri
Humam Al-Jibouri

The Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") has held that the administrator of a fan page hosted by a social network, such as Facebook, may be deemed a "data controller", with joint, if not equal, liability for the processing of personal data (Unabhängiges Landeszentrum für Datenschutz Schleswig-Holstein v Wirtschaftsakademie Schleswig-Holstein GmbH, in the presence of Facebook Ireland Ltd (C-210/16)). The decision has important implications for Facebook and similar platforms, as well as for parties that use such sites for non-personal purposes.

Background

The case concerned a Facebook fan page set up by a German company offering education and training services. The company signed up to the free 'Facebook Insights' tool, accepting anonymous data (viewing statistics), in return for allowing Facebook to collect and store visitors' personal data (via cookies), and to place targeted advertising on the fan page. Crucially, the company did not obtain any

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