A German court today overturned a previous order from another authority that, in Germany, Facebook could not unilaterally change users’ pseudonymous usernames to their real names.
Though Facebook’s real-name policy has had its critics, the company has long argued that the policy makes its users safer by ensuring that they can always be confident about who they are interacting with on the network.
The original ruling against Facebook was made in July by the Hamburg data protection authority, which is tasked with policing the social media site in Germany. The watchdog argued then that the real-name policy violated users’ privacy rights, reports Reuters.
The authority had acted on a woman’s complaint after Facebook blocked her account due to use of a fake moniker. The site had followed this up by asking for a copy of identification and then unilaterally changing her Facebook handle to her real name.
However, the Hamburg Administrative Court said that, as Facebook has its European headquarters in Ireland and therefore should only have to adhere to Irish law, it did not have to follow the data authority’s order for the time being.
