German cartel office says Facebook abused dominant position

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FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany’s cartel office has found that Facebook (FB.O) abused its dominant market position, in a ruling that questioned the U.S. social network’s model of monetizing the personal data of its 2 billion users through targeted advertising.

Presenting preliminary findings of its 20-month probe, the Federal Cartel Office said Facebook held a dominant position among social networks and had abused its power by collecting third-party data on its users.