DUESSELDORF (Reuters) – A German court on Wednesday criticized the data collection restrictions imposed by the country’s antitrust watchdog on Facebook as an indication that the social network may be appealing the two-year order.
“We criticize the decision of the Federal Cartel Office,” said Jürgen Kuehnen, presiding judge at the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court, at a hearing.
The antitrust agency ordered Facebook to curb its data collection practices in February 2019. The world’s largest social media company has abused its market dominance to collect information about its users without their consent.
Facebook appealed the decision and in the last significant development of the case, federal court reinstated the restrictions in June last year pending resolution to the high-stakes litigation.
The case has raised questions as to whether the protection of personal data – a hot button problem in Germany – is a competition law issue or whether it would be better covered by the data protection regulations of the European Union.
(Reporting by Matthias Inverardi, writing by Douglas Busvine, editing by Emma Thomasson)
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