Germany forbids Facebook to obtain user data via Instagram and WhatsApp

The German Federal Competition Regulator (Bundeskartellamt) announced new limits to the way Facebook collects data from its subsidiaries WhatsApp and Instagramas well as websites incorporating Facebook features such as the "I Like" button.

"Facebook will not be allowed to force its users to accept the almost unlimited collection of their data," Bundeskartellamt leader Andreas Mundt told reporters.

More precisely Facebook will have to ask for the "explicit consent" of its 30 million users Germans before linking to your accounts the data obtained via other applications such as Instagram and WhatsApp, or via the button "I like" integrated with other web pages.

Each of these external sources may continue to accumulate personal information, but Facebook will no longer be able to "merge" based solely on its general terms of use, added Mundt.

Facebook will have to present "within four months" a modification of its terms of use to the Bundeskartellamt, which will then have to "approve" them, for maximum application within a year. If this does not happen, Facebook is liable to a fine of up to 10 million euros per month.

On a more general level, according to Mundt, it is "forcing technology giants to adapt their business model", based on the exploitation of personal data for advertising purposes, "the right of competition", limiting the concentration of this information to a single actor.

The Bundeskartellamt began its investigations in mid-2016, after accusing Facebook of transmitting data to third parties (Instagram, Whatsapp, Twitter and other websites and apps) to a large amount of information about its users.

According to the preliminary findings published in 2017, the agency considers that the social network abuses its position by "subordinating the use of the social network to the right (…) to collect data of all kinds from external sources and exploit them with the Facebook account ".

The Californian group, who turned 15 on Monday, leaves a 2018 marked by an almost uninterrupted series of controversies, accused of having served as a platform for political manipulation or not having properly protected the personal data of its users.

Facebook is trying to get rid of the Cambridge Analytica scandal that allowed the use of its users' data, unbeknownst to them, with political goals during the US presidential campaign that culminated with Donald's election Trump.