In a ruling in 2019, the German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) prohibited the Meta Group (formerly Facebook) from merging users' personal information from various sources such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. Facebook did not want to obtain consumers' consent for this. This was followed by years of litigation, as Meta initially lodged an appeal. The proceedings have now been concluded and Meta has and will introduce various measures that offer users significantly more choice when linking their data. The Bundeskartellamt's complaint has thus been upheld.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) was also involved in the proceedings after the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court referred various questions to the ECJ. This led to the European Court of Justice's leading decision, supporting the Bundeskartellamt's legal opinion and prescribing a strict interpretation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This decision also inspired further European legislative initiatives.
Source: vzbv and Bundeskartellamt