By a decision of 23 June 2020, the German Federal Supreme Court provisionally confirms the allegation of abuse of a dominant position by Facebook because its users were not given the choice over the level of personalisation of their Facebook experience, which entails the collection of data from sources outside the Facebook network (e.g. Instragram, internet browsing etc.).
The Court considered that Facebook practice may hinder the competition in the social network and online advertising market due to its dominant position and provisionally upheld the decision of the German Federal Cartel Office (“Bundeskartellamt”) prohibiting Facebook from processing personal data collected outside the Facebook environment without the users’ additional consent.
This decision is interesting as it shows that in certain cases a breach of GDPR provisions may also have consequences on competition law matters.