A German court has ruled against an online shopping site’s use of Facebook Inc’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 favor of the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Association, which had complained that Peek & Cloppenburg’s Fashion ID Web site 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 Web site 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 (US$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.
Facebook’s ability to target advertising drove a 52 percent revenue jump in the final quarter of last year.
“The ruling has fundamental significance for the assessment of the legality of the ‘like’ function with respect to data protection,” lawyer Sebastian Meyer said. “Companies should put pressure on the social network to adapt the ‘like’ function to the prevailing law.”
Peek & Cloppenburg said that it had changed its deployment of the “like” button last year and now required users to activate social media before sharing data with Facebook. It said it would wait for the court’s written reasons before deciding whether to appeal.
A Facebook spokesman said the case is specific to a particular site.
“The like button, like many other features that are used to enhance Web sites, is an accepted, legal and important part of the Internet, and this ruling does not change that,” the spokesman said.
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