The Hamburg Data Protection Authority has ordered Facebook to allow users to choose pseudonyms.
A user, who had her account’s name changed to her real name by Facebook, complained to the Authority which agreed that her privacy should be protected. It ordered Facebook to reverse their policy.
Facebook has its European headquarters in Ireland where its authentic name policy was declared legal in 2011. With this move, Germany is challenging the idea that Irish data protection law is applicable across Europe.
Sources: Recode.net; endgadet.