After years of talks with the regulator, the German cartel office announced that Meta (META.O) would introduce a new overview for users of its platforms, Facebook and Instagram.
The office added that with Meta’s accounts hub, users would have “a largely free and informed decision” about how they wish to use their social media profiles.
“We have updated the Meta account overview to show more transparently how our services work together and give people more control over these features,” a Meta representative stated.
The corporation, the spokeswoman stressed, is committed to working cooperatively with the government. Meta (formerly Facebook) was targeted by the cartel office in 2019 for attempting to combine user data from many sources without users’ authorization.
This resulted in protracted court battles. In July, the highest court in the European Union is scheduled to issue a ruling on the matter.
The antitrust office called Meta’s first plan for account management “seriously deficient” and claimed it didn’t provide consumers with neutral or transparent information. The new feature offered by Meta is an improvement.
The office stated that its most recent evaluation was based on 2019 norms. Thus it could not rule out the possibility that additional restrictions were necessary to comply with German competition law.
The German government is keeping a close eye on Meta after it was classified as having “paramount significance for competition across markets” by the government, giving it more authority to limit the market dominance of digital corporations.
