People can sign up under pseudonyms, court ruled to Facebook

A German court ruled that Facebook should comply with a decade-old privacy law and allow users to sign up for the service under pseudonyms. This ruling came from the Berlin Regional Court for the lawsuit by the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (abbreviated from German as VZBV) against Facebook.

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The court also said that Facebook did not provide a clear choice to users for other default settings, such as to share their location in chats, and it ruled against clauses that allowed Facebook to use information such as profile pictures for commercial, sponsored, or related content. Though this ruling comes from a regional court and that both parties intend to appeal, it’s unlikely that some of these decisions are going to be final.