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Hungary: Competition watchdog fines Facebook

By  |  December 8, 2019

The Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) announced on Friday, December 6, that it imposed a 1.2 billion Hungarian forint (US$4 million) fine on Facebook.

The fine is the largest ever levied by the office in a consumer protection case, GVH stated, quoted by the Hungarian news agency MTI.

“Facebook Ireland breached the law when it advertised its services as free of charge on its website,” GVH argued.

“The clients did not have to pay for using the services but they generated a business profit for the company through their user activities and data, paying, in fact, for the services,” GVH stated.

GVH noted that similar decisions have been made in the United States and Europe, and that it took into account that Facebook, pressed by the European Commission and the consumer protection authorities of the European Union member states, has globally updated its terms of service in April 2019.

Full Content: Xinhuanet

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