Germany: Court rules against use of Facebook “like” button

A German court has ruled against an online shopping site’s use of Facebook’s “like” button on Wednesday, dealing a further legal blow to the world’s biggest social network in Germany.

The Duesseldorf district court said that retailer Peek & Cloppenburg failed to obtain proper consent before transmitting its users’ computer identities to Facebook, violating Germany’s data protection law and giving the retailer a commercial advantage.

The court found in favour of the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Association, which had complained that Peek & Cloppenburg’s Fashion ID website had grabbed user data and sent it to Facebook before shoppers had decided whether to click on the “like” button or not.

“A mere link to a data protection statement at the foot of the website does not constitute an indication that data are being or are about to be processed,” the court said.

Peek & Cloppenburg faces a penalty of up to 250,000 euros ($275,400) or six months’ detention for a manager.

The case comes on the heels of a January ruling by Germany’s highest court against Facebook’s “friend finder” feature and an announcement last week by Germany’s competition regulator that it was investigating Facebook for suspected abuse of market power with regard to data protection laws.

Full content: Asharq Al-Awsat

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