Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

FACEBOOK

Facebook holds Merck page over name fight

Facebook will sideline a Merck page at the social network until the German and American companies which share the name work out which one gets the online address.

Published: 29 November 2011 08:14 CET
Facebook holds Merck page over name fight
Isolation chamber. A German Merck scientist at work. Photo: DPA

German pharmaceutical and chemical giant Merck KGaA last week called for answers from California-based Facebook after losing control of the www.facebook.com/Merck page at the leading social network.

The group was “very surprised” to discover that its Facebook page contained information on a similarly named US company, according to Merck KGaA spokesman Gangolf Schrimpf.

“The transfer of the vanity URL Facebook.com/Merck from Merck KGaA to Merck & Co. was due to an administrative error,” Facebook said on Monday. “We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.”

Merck KGaA has lodged a complaint with the Supreme Court of the State of New York setting out its intention to take legal action against Facebook.

“Because Facebook is an important marketing device, the page is of great value to Merck and its misappropriation is causing harm,” said the complaint.

The Merck Facebook page will be unavailable until the vying companies agree which should get it, the source told AFP.

Both Mercks are free to create new Facebook pages titled in ways that reflect the names of the companies.

In March, 2010, the German firm signed a deal with Facebook for exclusive rights to the page but was astonished to find in October that it had lost administrative control and page content to US competitor Merck.

The two firms are distantly related, but have been legally separate entities since the 1919 Treaty of Versailles after World War I when the group was split in two as part of a reparations package against Germany.

AFP/hc

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

FACEBOOK

Facebook deletes virus conspiracy accounts in Germany

Facebook says it has deleted the accounts, pages and groups linked to virus conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers in Germany who are vocal opponents of government restrictions to control the coronavirus pandemic.

Published: 17 September 2021 09:06 CEST
Updated: 17 September 2021 15:52 CEST
Facebook deletes virus conspiracy accounts in Germany
An anti-vaccination and anti-Covid demo in Berlin on August 28th. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Christophe Gateau

With just 10 days to go before Germany’s parliamentary elections – where the handling of the pandemic by Angela Merkel’s goverment will come under scrutiny – Facebook said it had “removed a network of Facebook and Instagram accounts” linked to the so-called “Querdenker” or Lateral Thinker movement.

The pages posted “harmful health misinformation, hate speech and incitement to violence”, the social media giant said in a statement.

It said that the people behind the pages “used authentic and duplicate accounts to post and amplify violating content, primarily focused on promoting the conspiracy that the German government’s Covid-19 restrictions are part of a larger plan to strip citizens of their freedoms and basic rights.”

The “Querdenker” movement, which is already under surveillance by Germany’s intelligence services, likes to portray itself as the mouthpiece of opponents
of the government’s coronavirus restrictions, organising rallies around the country that have drawn crowds of several thousands.

READ ALSO: Germany’s spy agency to monitor ‘Querdenker’ Covid sceptics

It loosely groups together activists from both the far-right and far-left of the political spectrum, conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers. And some of their rallies have descended into violence.

Social media platforms regularly face accusations that they help propagate misinformation and disinformation, particularly with regard to the pandemic and vaccines.

SHOW COMMENTS