A warning for Facebook IPO investors from Germany

By Associated Press | Updated: 5 June 2012 00:28 IST

Highlights

A German official has warned Facebook investors that the site's $38 starting share price may breach European privacy rules.

A German data protection official has warned Facebook investors that the site's $38 starting share price is based on practices that may breach European privacy rules.

Thilo Weichert, data protection commissioner for the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, said shareholders should be aware that if European privacy authorities have their way, "Facebook's business model will implode."

Weichert was quoted by German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Friday saying Facebook could be ordered to stop transferring user information to the United States.

Facebook's IPO prospectus warns investors that its business is subject to "complex and evolving U.S. and foreign laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection, and other matters" that could harm its business.

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Further reading: Facebook, Germany, Privacy

A warning for Facebook IPO investors from Germany

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