The 2017 Facebook Saga: A Competition, Consumer and Data Protection Story

Abstract

The article reviews the 2017 Facebook investigations in Europe by competition, consumer and data protection authorities about the data transfer from WhatsApp to Facebook and the recent preliminary assessment by the Bundeskartellamt of the Facebook case for having abused its dominant position by breaching data protection rules. The article examines the theory of harm and the need to integrate privacy issues in any data-driven antitrust and merger cases. Finally, the article argues that competition, consumer and data protection agencies must collaborate to better protect the consumer and the competition in the Big Data age.

Keywords: Facebook; Antitrust; Competition Law; Big Data; Merger