, Columnist
Facebook’s Privacy Problems Get Real in Germany
The social media giant faces a ban on third-party data sharing. If this sticks, it’s a serious problem for its ad-targeting strategy.
The fun isn’t over yet.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Germany is about to remind Facebook Inc. that the tribulations of 2018 are far from over. In fact, they’re about to get even more real.
The country’s Federal Cartel Office intends to ban Facebook from collecting user data from third parties, the newspaper Bild am Sonntag reported. This will also prohibit data sharing between WhatsApp and Instagram, which Facebook owns. Germany is concerned that Facebook users didn’t know they agreed to be tracked across the internet when they signed up for the firm’s offerings.