Dusseldorf Court Asks ECJ To Review Facebook Data Case

Facebook’s challenge to a German antitrust attack on its business model will head to the European Union’s top court after a national tribunal sought legal advice on EU data rules, reported Bloomberg.

A Dusseldorf court asked judges from the EU’s Court of Justice to decide whether a violation of data regulations can be cited in an antitrust case. The German tribunal is weighing Facebook’s attempt to overturn a 2019 decision from Germany’s Federal Cartel Office and held a hearing on the case on Wednesday, March 24. The antitrust agency had ordered the social network to overhaul how the company tracks users’ web browsing.

The German order is the toughest regulatory curb Facebook has come up against so far in Europe. It is one of several authorities Facebook is fighting in the region, including a lawsuit against European Commission last year over a preliminary antitrust probe, which managed to slow down EU investigators’ demand for data. It has also taken legal action against Ireland’s privacy watchdog and was chastised by a UK court for ignoring the country’s merger watchdog.

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