Court of Justice of the European Union Advocate General Michal Bobek released a non-binding opinion on a case brought forth by German consumer advocates, Courthouse News Service reports. Bobek ruled companies with an embedded Facebook “like” plug-in on their website are jointly responsible for the collection and transmission of user data. Verbraucherzentrale NRW brought forth the case against German e-retailer Fashion ID. The group claims visitors to Fashion ID’s website had their data collected regardless of whether they clicked on the plug-in or if they had a Facebook account. Bobek determined while Facebook uses the data for commercial purposes, companies seem to be “pursu[ing] commercial purposes in a way that appears to be mutually complementary.” Bobek’s opinion will be taken into consideration when the CJEU makes its final ruling.
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