Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On September 8, 2011, Richard Allan, Facebook’s Director of European Public Policy, met with the German Federal Ministry of the Interior (the “Ministry”) and endorsed the Ministry’s initiative for a future self-regulatory code for social networks with a focus on data security, consumer protection and the protection of minors.

In endorsing the “the initiative towards self-regulation,” Mr. Allan stated that Facebook’s new privacy settings “already offer its users the option to control how their personal data is used” and that the company “would be happy to contribute their experience in the development of common branch standards.”

The Ministry’s press release stated that “with Facebook’s willingness to engage voluntarily in self-commitments and to expand these further, the discussions over the extent to which German data protection and telemedia law apply to Facebook have been considerably defused.”