Facebook & Co
Federal Cartel Office and Meta end years-long legal dispute

The display of a smartphone shows symbols from the Meta Group’s social media. (Symbolic image) photo
© Jens Büttner/dpa/dpa-tmn
Personal data is the digital gold that internet users use to pay for access to social media. Facebook’s handling of data has long raised suspicions. It’s weakening a bit now.
The US technology giant appealed against the decision, and several courts were involved in the lengthy legal dispute. Last year, Meta finally suffered a defeat at the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
Meta gives in to the pressure
After discussions with the antitrust office, the technology company gradually changed its business practices and ultimately complied with the demands of the competition authorities. Since last year, the US company has been giving users a better overview of how their data is linked across the various services. With the new account overview, “Meta’s customers were able to decide largely freely and informedly for the first time whether they wanted to use Meta services in isolation or link them together,” the Cartel Office assessed this change positively.
There were further measures taken by the internet company. Meta has made significant adjustments to how it handles user data, says Cartel Office chief Andreas Mundt. “The key point here is that using Facebook no longer requires that you consent to the unlimited collection and allocation of data to your own user account, even if the data is not stored in the Facebook service.” Users now have significantly better control options when it comes to merging their data.
Consumer has more control
The measures taken by Meta include an upstream signpost with which the company points out users’ choices at the beginning of its data policy – so these are not hidden and can hardly be found. Overall, users are given “significantly improved control” over the assignment of personal data from other meta services as well as websites or apps from other companies to their respective Facebook accounts, says Mundt.
According to the Cartel Office, Meta withdrew its complaint against the 2019 decision, after which it became final. The competition authorities now say that the Facebook process has been completed.
The Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (vzbv) also assesses the antitrust office’s efforts as a success for consumers. “Meta is not allowed to combine the user data from its various offers without being asked and monetize it for advertising purposes,” says vzbv expert Jutta Gurkmann. It is important that people decide for themselves how their data is used.