In Germany, Facebook has agreed to voluntarily sign a privacy code to protect users’ information. This agreement comes after Richard Allen, Facebook’s director of European public policy, met with Hans-Peter Friedrich, Germany’s Interior Minister.

Facebook has experienced widespread criticism in Germany for quite some time now about the company’s privacy policy. In early August, the German data protection authority asked Facebook to disable its’ facial recognition feature. The authorities argued that the feature allowed an unauthorized amount of data to be collected about individuals.

The problem started in August when Thilo Weichert, the privacy commissioner for the German state Schleswig-Holstein, announced that any website that featured Facebook’s “like” button on their website would be fined 50,000 Euros ($70,000). Weichert believes that the button violated German user data protection laws.

The exact code will be determined at a later date, however both sides agreed that the code will be sure to create a “stronger protection of users.” The code will go above and beyond the European Union code of law and create stronger protection for German citizens. Future talks about a privacy code will not only include Facebook but also other social networks.

For the time being, Facebook and the German Interior Ministry have been able to temporarily diffuse the situation. Weichert stated that “Right now we do not plan to prosecute a specific website owner.” He went on to say that the purpose of the fine was force Facebook to look into its privacy policy.

Facebook is not the first website to have data protection issues with the German government. In 2010, Google was forced by both German federal and state protection authorities to blue street-level images of people’s homes. Hundreds of thousands of German citizens have opted to have their houses blurred out.

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About the author

Lauren McGovern

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