March 23, 2023
With the opinion that the operation of a Facebook fan page is not possible for an authority in accordance with data protection, the Federal Data Protection Commissioner Ulrich Kelber instructed the Federal Press Office to discontinue the operation of the Facebook fan page. According to a short report from the data protection conference, the official operation of a fan page on Facebook is incompatible with data protection law.
However, the Federal Press Office would like to continue operating the fan page and recently filed a lawsuit with the Cologne Administrative Court. The Deputy Head of the Press and Information Office, Dr. Johannes Dimrot explained it as follows:
„The Federal Government has a constitutional mandate to inform the citizens about the activities, projects and goals of the Federal Government. Part of fulfilling this task is to orientate oneself on the actual media use of the citizens in order to really reach them. […]”. The Facebook fan page is currently still in operation.
Deputy government spokesman Wolfgang Büchner supports the Federal Press Office. He believes that the Facebook presence is an important part of the federal government’s public relations work. In Büchner’s opinion, this should therefore be adhered to for the time being.
It remains to be seen how the administrative court in Cologne will decide. The case remains exciting because the Federal Press Office plays an important role in informing the public.
