Diksia.com - The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on Tuesday (4 July) that authorities in the member states have the right to check whether technology companies such as Meta, the owner of Facebook, are complying with applicable data protection regulations. Region.
The ECJ has held a hearing on a complaint filed by Meta against the German Cartel Office ordering Facebook to stop collecting user data without their consent.
In 2019, the Bundeskartellamt found that Facebook occupies a “dominant” role in the social networking market and should therefore be subject to a “special antitrust obligation”.
The Bundeskartellamt found that Facebook had submitted terms of use containing provisions on data collection as part of its application to open an account. This does not comply with the rules that require “free consent” from users due to Facebook’s dominant role in the social networking market.
Meta challenged the decision on the grounds that the German antitrust authority exceeded its powers. Meta then filed a complaint with the ECJ. In fact, however, the ECJ’s decision strengthens the regulatory powers of the Federal Cartel Office.
Tuesday’s decision could also impact other tech giants like Google, which also use similar data collection mechanisms.
“A national competition authority can determine that there has been a violation of the GDPR as part of an examination of the abuse of a dominant position,” said the ECJ judge with regard to the data protection regulation of the European Union called GDPR.
But the European Court of Justice also said; “The regulator must review any decision or investigation by the relevant regulator in accordance with the Rules.”
A spokesman for Meta said the company is reviewing the European Court of Justice’s decision.
Meanwhile, the German cartel office welcomed the decision of the ECJ. “The decision will have far-reaching effects on business models in the data economy,” said Andreas Mundt, head of the Bundeskartellamt, in a tweet.
“The judgment sends a strong signal for competition law enforcement in the digital economy, an area where data determines market power,” he continued. “When large Internet companies use very personal user data, this use can also be considered a violation of competition law.”
