The German Federation of Consumer Associations has launched legal proceedings against the social media platforms MySpace, Facebook, Xing and other local networks such as Lokalisten or Wer-kennt-wen. The consumer associations have launched an injunction because they claim that the platforms have very broad rights to use data in relation to data protection, which is detrimental to users. The aim is to get the platforms to change their data protection conditions.
Users are often unaware of what they are doctor data getting into when they agree to terms of use and data protection; they unwittingly allow platforms to make full use of their users' data, consumer associations complain. For example, users often unwittingly give social media platforms the rights to use the photos they upload to their profiles. For the time being, the association has limited itself to admonishing the platforms, but if they do not respond to the orders to stop, the association will take more forceful legal action.
“All rights for the platform – the worst for the consumer – this seems to be the motto that social media networks too often follow,” says Gerd Billen, president of the Bundesverband der Verbraucherzentralen (VZBV). “We did not expect the standards to be so poor, given the number of commitments and clarifications from the operators (of the platforms),” he adds.
Joint action
The central consumer federation has worked in collaboration with eighty other international consumer associations to present the document Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue , presented in May and which includes a series of requests to social network operators and to European and American authorities. The working group includes the Spanish associations Organisation of Consumers and Users (OCU), State Confederation of Consumers and Users (CECU), National Union of Spanish Associations (UNAE), Union of Consumers of Spain (UCE) and Valencian Association of Consumers and Users.
The document denounces, for example, the practice of making targeted advertising based on data about purchases made by the user, data that is used without the user's knowledge and that is sometimes communicated to other people. It also denounces that application developers have access to more data than they need for the operation of the applications. Another highlight of the document is the demand for greater protection of minors from the