German court declares certain Facebook default settings illegal
A German court, the Landgericht of Berlin, has ruled in a case brought against Facebook by a consumer organization. Among other things, the company must adjust its policy on certain default settings.
The organization that filed the complaint in 2015, the Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband, writes that the judge went along with five of its complaints against default settings. For example, the Facebook app enables a function by default that determines the user’s location so that it can be shared with conversation partners, the organization reports. In the ruling, the judge wrote that users cannot grant permission with default settings, because they are not familiar with it.
The consumer organization criticizes that ‘Facebook hides privacy-unfriendly settings in its privacy center, without informing users about it’. In addition, the judge accepted complaints about certain clauses in the Facebook terms and conditions, for example that Facebook may use profile images for commercial purposes. With regard to the use of real names on Facebook, the judge says that people must agree to this policy, which also immediately means that they give permission for the use of this data. However, the judge finds that there can be no question of consent, because it is suggested that there is no alternative.
The judge did not agree with all complaints from the consumer organization. For example, he wanted Facebook to no longer be able to advertise that it is free to use. This would be misleading as users are actually paying with their data. However, the judge does not see this as a problem, because ‘intangible considerations’ cannot be seen as costs. The organization also complained about passages in Facebook’s data policy. However, the court does not see these as contractual provisions.
Facebook has announced that it will appeal the ruling, Reuters writes. The company says it has made changes to its policies since the complaint was filed. The German competition authority is also investigating Facebook, because the company uses data from sources such as WhatsApp and Instagram. By making its services dependent on this, the company would abuse its dominant position. The watchdog said in January that a possible ban on Facebook’s data collection is not excluded.