Germany’s justice minister has asked Facebook Chief Executive in a letter to be transparent with users by giving them more control, saying allegations of the
improper use of data
for millions of people is unacceptable, a German media group reported on Thursday. [caption id=“attachment_4436921” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]
Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Media group RND said in her letter, Katarina Barley also called on Facebook to strictly implement privacy by default settings and to set up an internal mechanism to protect users from misuse by third parties like
Cambridge Analytica
. Earlier Germany’s antitrust regulator last month opened an inquiry into online advertising, responding to concerns expressed by advertisers and publishers about the “significant” market position of US platforms Google and Facebook. In December, the
Federal Cartel Office
also accused Facebook of abusing its dominant position to collect the personal data of its 2 billion users worldwide. Facebook is also grappling with a new law under which the company and other social media sites can be fined up to 50 million euros if they fail to promptly remove hateful messages. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and the Social Democrats called on 20 March for an extraordinary session of the German parliament’s digital committee to debate the latest reports, conservative lawmaker Thomas Jarzombek said.
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