Overview

• A joint lawsuit by the Bundespresseamt and Meta led the Cologne Administrative Court to lift the 2023 ban and allow the German government’s Facebook fan page to remain active.
• The court ruled that Meta, as platform operator, bears sole responsibility for obtaining valid user consent for cookie-based data collection under GDPR.
• Judges found no sufficient causal link between the government’s operation of the page and Meta’s placement of cookies to impose liability on the Bundespresseamt.
• The Federal Data Protection Authority is reviewing the verdict and may appeal to the North Rhine-Westphalia Higher Administrative Court in Münster.
• Government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said the decision affirms Facebook’s role as a key channel in the federal press office’s public outreach.