PR Company, Internet Marketing

German state dislikes Facebook ‘Likes’

When you think about countries restricting internet or social media access to its citizens, one of the last countries you would think of doing so would be Germany. Believe it or not, the German state of Schleswig-Holstein has insisted that local websites remove their Facebook pages and the ‘Like’ button from their websites.

Data protection officials in Schleswig-Holstein are concerned that Facebook is holding data about its users and is tracking their online activities – data Facebook could hold on to for up to two years. This, they say, is against EU data protection standards.

Obviously, Facebook denies that it is breaking any data protection laws and stresses that the ‘Like’ button is a popular feature among Facebook users across the world. This is because the user has complete control about how their information is shared. Facebook has said that it will review the information passed over to them by the German data agency.

Every now and again, the privacy issues that surround social networks (particularly Facebook) come up again. The last problem that hit the headlines was when Facebook implemented facial recognition software in June that would suggest who ought to be ‘tagged’ in photographs. It is estimated that 75bn photos have been added to Facebook since its launch in 2004, so it is understandable that Facebook would wish to look into providing an extra service to users who upload lots of photographs. Even though users can opt out, it was Germany who stepped forward and said that this software was open to incredible abuses and was against EU privacy laws.

Is Germany right to be concerned about the data protection issues it has been championing? Should other countries in the EU such as France or the UK stand up with Germany and tell Facebook to stop profiling their citizens? Are Facebook, Google and all the other social media channels all conspiring to collect as much data on their users as possible so they can make money from advertisers desperate to up sell and expand into new markets? Or do you think that ‘the powers that be’ don’t understand social media and are making a poor decision that could ultimately impede progress within the industry?

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