Report: German state bans Facebook's 'like' button

A state in Germany has banned the “Like" button on social networking site Facebook, at least for its institutions, a tech site reported on Saturday (Manila time). Mashable reported the German state of Schleswig-Holstein ordered state institutions to shut down their Facebook pages and remove the “Like" button from their websites or face fines. The article quoted a Facebook spokesperson as denying the claims that the social networking giant is not compliant with EU data protection standards, but added Facebook will look into it. “We will review the materials produced by the ULD [the data protection agency], both on our own behalf and on the behalf of web users throughout Germany," the spokesperson said. The Mashable article Schleswig-Holstein’s data-protection commissioner Thilo Weichert as saying an analysis from his office found Facebook was building profiles of users and non-users with data collected by the Like button – a potential violation of German and European data protection laws. It also cited a statement in German, where the data-protection organization urged Internet users “to keep their fingers from clicking on social plugins" like the Like button to avoid being profiled. This was the latest clash between German regulators and Facebook – earlier this month, the data protection supervisor in Hamburg warned Facebook’s new automatic photo-tagging feature could violate European privacy laws. — LBG, GMA News