The Dusseldorf Higher Regional Court quashes the Competition Authority’s findings that a social network abused its dominant position by improperly combining user data that it has collected from various sources (Facebook)

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Dusseldorf Higher Regional Court, Facebook, VI-Kart 1/19 (V), 26 August 2019 (German)

As previously reported in this Bulletin, [1] on 6 February 2019, the German Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Office – “FCO”) found that Facebook abused its dominance by improperly combining user data that it collected from various sources. [2] As a remedy, the FCO imposed far-reaching restrictions on Facebook’s processing of user data, including a duty to obtain “voluntary consent” from consumers prior to any combination of data. Some celebrated the decision as an innovative approach to protect consumers by means of antitrust law beyond its classical focus on consumer welfare. This rendered the decision as a symbol for what has been dubbed “Hipster Antitrust”. [3] The investigation even won the FCO the prestigious GCR award for global “Enforcement action of the year 2018”. [4] Others,

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Thomas Höppner, Phillipp Westerhoff, The Dusseldorf Higher Regional Court quashes the Competition Authority’s findings that a social network abused its dominant position by improperly combining user data that it has collected from various sources (Facebook), 26 August 2019, e-Competitions Remedies for unilateral conduct, Art. N° 96434

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