German Watchdog blocks Facebook from merging user data without consent
Germany's competition watchdog; the Bundeskartellamt has imposed "far-reaching" restrictions on Facebook's data collection and sharing. Facebook unsurprisingly plans to appeal. The watchdog said that Facebook should not combine or collect user data third-party websites and assign them to user accounts without users' consent. Facebook "will have to substantially restrict its collection and combining of data", and was also told to start incorporating new ways to ensure that this doesn't happen. Today's decision echoes: "The extent to which Facebook collects, merges and uses data in user accounts constitutes an abuse of a dominant position." The probe is not how Facebook processes the data it collects from its platforms including Instagram, and WhatsApp, but how it collections and pulls the data together from other sources. It also includes third-party sources, such as the "Like" button, or when sites use Facebook's analytics services. Bundeskartellamt president Andreas Mundt said: "By combining data from its own website, company-owned services and the analysis of third-party websites, Facebook obtains very detailed profiles of its users and knows what they are doing online. The extent to which Facebook collects, merges and uses data in user accounts constitutes an abuse of a dominant position" The Bundeskartellamt noted that it had worked closely with European ... 
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