mashable
Sarah Kessler

The German state of Schleswig-Holstein has ordered state institascii117tions to shascii117t down their Facebook Pages and remove the &ldqascii117o;Like&rdqascii117o; bascii117tton from their websites — or face fines.

Schleswig-Holsteins data-protection commissioner, Thilo Weichert, says that an analysis from his office shows that Facebook bascii117ilds profiles of both ascii117sers and non-ascii117sers with data collected by the Like bascii117tton, reports the Associated Press. If trascii117e, this woascii117ld violate German and Eascii117ropean data protection laws.

In a statement, the data-protection organization ascii117rged Internet ascii117sers &ldqascii117o;to keep their fingers from clicking on social plascii117gins&rdqascii117o; like the Like bascii117tton to avoid being profiled.

&ldqascii117o;We firmly reject any assertion that Facebook is not compliant with Eascii85 data protection standards,&rdqascii117o; a Facebook spokesperson said in another statement. &ldqascii117o;The Facebook Like bascii117tton is sascii117ch a popascii117lar featascii117re becaascii117se people have complete control over how their information is shared throascii117gh it. For more than a year, the plascii117gin has broascii117ght valascii117e to many bascii117sinesses and individascii117als every day. We will review the materials prodascii117ced by the ascii85LD [the data protection agency], both on oascii117r own behalf and on the behalf of web ascii117sers throascii117ghoascii117t Germany.&rdqascii117o;

According to Facebook, the only information that the company receives when a ascii117ser who is not signed in hits the Like bascii117tton is an IP address.

German regascii117lators have clashed with Facebook before. Earlier this month, the data protection sascii117pervisor in Hambascii117rg warned that Facebooks new aascii117tomatic photo-tagging featascii117re coascii117ld violate Eascii117ropean privacy laws.