In recent months, Germany’s Federal Cartel Office (FCO) has been looking into potential violations of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in relation to political microtargeting by Facebook. The FCO, which is responsible for enforcing the GDPR on behalf of the German government, is now focusing its investigations into Facebook’s use of data for the political purposes.
Facebook’s political microtargeting has been a cause of considerable concern among German privacy advocates. Facebook’s targeting of users for political purposes has been criticized for its potential to create a “filter bubble” in which certain disempowered groups are chosen to see certain types of political messaging. Along with the risk of creating a filter bubble, there is also concern that Facebook is allowing this kind of targeting to take place while failing to provide users with adequate notifications or transparency of how the data is being used.
The FCO announced in December that it had opened an investigation into Facebook and its use of personal data for microtargeting. The investigation is looking into whether Facebook is gathering data in violation of the GDPR. Specifically, the FCO is looking into whether Facebook is collecting data on users who have not provided their explicit consent to do so, and whether Facebook is using services from third-party data brokers in order to collect data on users without their knowledge.
The Germans are not alone in this criticism. Global privacy advocates have called for stronger regulation of Facebook’s political microtargeting, and recently the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, held a hearing titled “Examining Facebook’s Role in Public Debate: Transparency, Trust and the 2020 Elections”. In the hearing, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) stated that Facebook needs to start providing more transparency and better disclosure in order to give users more control over how their data is used.
The outcome of the FCO’s investigation into Facebook’s political microtargeting will be a defining moment for the GDPR and its role in protecting user data within the European Union. If Facebook fails to meet the requirements of the GDPR, the FCO can order the company to change its practices or face stiff penalties, including fines and possibly a ban on political microtargeting in Germany. It is also possible that other European countries will soon follow Germany’s lead in questioning Facebook’s political microtargeting, making the FCO’s investigation a pivotal moment for the future of online privacy and GDPR enforcement.
