German antitrust watchdog may assess Meta’s privacy obligation

Antitrust authorities may assess whether companies comply with EU data protection rules during their investigations, an adviser to Europe’s top court said on Tuesday, in a case involving Meta Platforms and the German competition agency.

“A competition authority may, in exercising its powers, take account of the compatibility of a commercial practice with the General Data Protection Regulation,” Advocate General Athanasios Rantos at the Court of Justice of the European Union said in a non-binding opinion.

“However, it must take into account any decision or investigation by the competent authority under that Regulation,” he said.

The case is C252/21 Meta Platforms and others (general conditions of use of a social network). Reuters