金融時報:Facebook在德國遭遇反壟斷調查

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2021年10月08日

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Facebook在德國遭遇反壟斷調查

高管因數據保護問題在巴西被捕后的不久，德國就發(fā)表聲明稱懷疑Facebook違反用戶信息保護法，濫用客戶資料而正式展開反壟斷調查。

測試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識：

antitrust反壟斷的[?nt?'tr?st]

Bundeskartellamt德國卡特爾局

abusive濫用的[?'bju?s?v]

clause條款[kl??z]

infringement侵犯[?n'fr?n(d)?m(?)nt]

blindsided攻其不備['bla?ndsa?d]

negotiate談判，交涉[n?'g????e?t]

Facebook hit by German competition probe （680words）

By Guy Chazan in Berlin and Duncan Robinson in Brussels

Germany's antitrust agency has launched proceedings against Facebook to investigate if the world's largest social network abused its market power by infringing data protection rules.

The Bundeskartellamt said there was an initial suspicion that Facebook's conditions of use were in violation of German data protection provisions.

“Facebook's use of unlawful terms and conditions could represent an abusive imposition of unfair conditions on users,” it said.

The Bundeskartellamt said it would examine a possible connection between Facebook's dominant position in social networks and the use of such clauses.

The issue of data protection has become increasingly important as internet companies such as Facebook and Google have become big, data-driven businesses. How to regulate the industry as it has become more pervasive is a particular concern for European regulators and data protection authorities.

The Bundeskartellamt said that Facebook collected large amounts of personal user data from various sources. “To access the social network, users must first agree to the company's collection and use of their data by accepting the terms of service,” it said. However, it “is difficult for users to understand and assess the scope of the agreement accepted by them”.

It said there was “considerable doubt” as to whether such a procedure was admissible under national data protection laws. “If there is a connection between such an infringement and market dominance, this could also constitute an abusive practice under competition law.”

Facebook said: “We are confident that we comply with the law and we look forward to working with the Federal Cartel Office to answer their questions.”

Tech industry sources said Facebook had been blindsided by the German move.

The Bundeskartellamt said it was launching the proceeding in close contact with data protection officers, consumer protection associations as well as the European Commission and the competition authorities of other EU member states. It will target the company's Irish subsidiary and its German operation.

While the European Commission declined to comment on the specifics of the German case, a spokesperson made clear that “behaviour that violates data protection rules could also be relevant when investigating a possible violation of EU competition rules”.

Germany's opposition Greens welcomed the move. “For years there has been a justified suspicion that Facebook is possibly abusing its market dominance through its terms of service on the use of user data,” said Konstantin von Notz, a Green MP.

Andreas Mundt, head of the Bundeskartellamt, said that dominant companies were subject to “special obligations”, such as “the use of adequate terms of service as far as these are relevant to the market”.

“For advertising-financed internet services such as Facebook, user data are hugely important,” he said. “For this reason it is essential to also examine under the aspect of abuse of market power whether the consumers are sufficiently informed about the type and extent of data collected.”

Facebook's data protection practices have already been called into question by regulators in Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Germany.

In February the French data protection authority gave Facebook three months to stop tracking non-users' web activity without their consent. It said the company did not inform internet users that it sets a cookie on their terminal when they visit a Facebook public page. Facebook insists that its practices were within the rules and common practice for most websites.

In January, Margrethe Vestager, EU competition chief, said the regulator was looking at whether the data collection methods of large internet companies were in breach of antitrust rules.

In addition, Guenther Oettinger, European digital commissioner, said last month that the EU was considering new rules to promote healthier competition among companies whose business models rely on data collection. He said the effort “includes looking for ways to mitigate the existing imbalance between data-rich and data-poor companies”. One proposal was to create “personal data spaces” that would “allow the consumer to negotiate the terms of access to and use of their own data”.

The initiative came amid growing concern that the huge data sets compiled by companies such as Google and Facebook could give them an unfair advantage by shutting out competition.

請根據你所讀到的文章內容，完成以下自測題目：

1.What is the similarity between Facebook and Google as mentioned?

A.Seattle-based companies

B.industry-leading

C.data-driven businesses

D.rely on ads

答案(1)

2.What must users do to access Facebook for the first time?

A.see the advertising video

B.accept the terms of service about data

C.associated with mobile number

D.recompose security settings