FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Facebook’s “Like” button violates German and European privacy laws in a case brought by a consumer group against an online shopping site which relied on the user recommendation feature, a Dusseldorf regional court said on Wednesday.

The ruling followed a complaint by the Nordrhein-Westfalen Consumer Association against a shopping site owned by German department store chain Peek & Cloppenburg KG Duesseldorf, for using the Facebook feature without appropriate user consent.