Study says:

Six tech giants violate EU law!

According to a study by the German Federation of Consumer Organizations (Vzbv), six large digital companies are violating EU law.

Facebook parent Meta, Google parent Alphabet, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and TikTok operator ByteDance are manipulating their users in order to obtain their consent for their personal data to be merged to the greatest possible extent, the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" quotes from the study.

Specifically, the companies would "trick" as follows: "TikTok, for example, suggests to users that if you don't agree to this service, we can no longer offer you a free service." Vzbv board member Ramona Pop announced that she would forward the findings to the EU and called for consistent implementation of the Digital Markets Act.

The Federation of German Consumer Organizations now wants to forward the findings to the EU Commission.(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

This is because this practice has been prohibited under European law since March 7, 2024. "We are not afraid to issue warnings to the companies," said Pop.

Rights of use in exchange for data
Amazon is trying to obtain consent for data aggregation directly via the cookie settings. "And you can't fully use the Facebook Marketplace without first submitting your data to Facebook." The tech giants known as "gatekeepers" have a considerable influence on what people in Germany consume digitally.