Data privacy is especially sensitive in Germany, where the memory of the two 20th-century authoritarian police states on its territory have spurred it to take forerunner role in the push for tighter regulation of data-driven Internet giants.
"I plan a further discussion with Facebook to discuss the question of algorithms govern how people are categorised according to their usage of data," she told reporters after it was revealed that the personal information of up to 87 million Facebook users may have been improperly shared with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.
"We should have no illusions: the Cambridge Analytica cases won't be the only ones and Facebook is probably not the only Internet giant where similar doubtful cases occurred," she added. "It's probably just the tip of the iceberg."