EU court says Facebook fan page operator also responsible for protecting visitors’ data

The operator of a fan page on Facebook is also responsible for protecting visitors’ personal data and cannot hide behind the social network, the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) ruled on Tuesday. The case stems from a dispute between a German fan page on Facebook, which used the social network to store cookies on visitors’ hard drives to collect data about them, Reuters reports. A German data protection authority had ordered the operator, an education company, to deactivate the page because visitors were not informed about the collection of their personal data. The company argued it was not responsible for the processing of personal data by Facebook and that any action should be brought against the social network. “The fact that an administrator of a fan page uses the platform provided by Facebook in order to benefit from the associated services cannot exempt it from compliance with its obligations concerning the protection of personal data,” the European Union’s highest court said.