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The Federal Cartel Office, which has been investigating Facebook
since 2015, has already found that the social media giant abused
its market dominance to gather data on people without their
knowledge or consent.
The Bild am Sonntag newspaper said the watchdog will present the
U.S. company with its ruling on what action it needs to take in
the next few weeks.
A Facebook spokeswoman said the company disputes the watchdog's
findings and will continue to defend this position.
The investigation is being closely watched amid mounting
concerns over leaks of data on tens of millions of Facebook
users, as well as the use of social media by foreign powers
seeking to influence elections in the United States.
The German watchdog objects in particular to how Facebook
acquires data on people from third-party apps - including its
own WhatsApp and Instagram services as well as games and
websites - and its tracking of people who are not members.
The paper said it is still not clear how strictly Facebook will
have to comply with the German order, noting that the watchdog
looks likely to set a deadline for compliance rather than
insisting on immediate action.
(Reporting by Rene Wagner; Writing by Emma Thomasson; Editing by
David Goodman)
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