Facebook is being formally accused of storing and improperly using user data without their permission, as well as of people who are not even registered on the social network.
The accusation came from a public data protection agency in Hamburg, Germany, several international media reports today.
At issue is not only the use of information such as addresses, e-mail addresses and telephone numbers of its members for commercial purposes without their authorization, but also contacts with people who do not use the service.
The organization will have received several complaints, including cases of people who are not registered on the social network but have been contacted by Facebook, after Facebook has obtained their names and email addresses from profiles of friends who use the service. .
The explanation came from the public agency spokesman. «We believe that storing third party data in these conditions violates data protection standards,» said Johannes Caspar, quoted by El Mundo.
The largest social network in the world now has until 11 August to respond to the accusations, risking sanctions that could include, for example, fines.
This is just the latest example of controversies involving German entities and the service created by Mark Zuckerberg, which has been the target of harsh criticism by the country regarding privacy. Not so long ago, the minister with the portfolio of commerce addressed an open letter to the founder of the website in which she expressed her concerns about changes to the social network’s privacy policy.
