The Federal Cartel Office could impose sanctions on Facebook. "We criticize way company collects and exploits personal data as a potential misuse of market power," said cartel office president Andreas Mundt of Rheinische Post. "In end, we may have to ban collection and resale of data from third-party sources without explicit consent of users."

He referred to legal possibilities open to his authority. On one, Facebook has a German subsidiary, and on or, so-called impact principle applies in antitrust law. It is possible to act effectively against an infringement, as far as it is effective in Federal Republic, said Mundt.

Shortly before Christmas, Federal Cartel office had accused Facebook of "abusive" collecting data from third-party sources in a preliminary assessment. Especially garing of data outside social network, which will n be linked to Facebook account, authority sees as Problematischan.

These third parties include cartel Office's own services such as WhatsApp or Instagram, but also websites and apps of or operators that Facebook can access via interfaces. Facebook collects a significant amount of personal data from its users and uses m for advertising purposes, among or things.

Facebook sees itself only as an option of many

In its preliminary assessment, cartel authority also assumes that Facebook is dominant in German market for social networks. The user will be asked to choose eir to accept entire package or to refrain from using service.

Facebook, on or hand, said that assessment of cartel office was inaccurate. Users in Germany and elsewhere would have many choices, to share, discover and communicate, and Facebook is just one of those options. At same time, company announced its intention to cooperate with competition authority.

Date Of Update: 03 January 2018, 12:03