On Monday, Facebook App Center came under fire in Germany when the country’s biggest consumer lobby group, VZBV, accused the new app centre of violating German privacy laws by gathering personal details of the users without their consent.

Pointing out that Facebook App Center was giving away personal data to third parties without notifying the users, VZBV said that it intends taking the legal route against Facebook if the social network does not fix the issues by September 4.

Fighting back at Facebook App Center, VZBV put forth the argument that the feature violates Germany's Telemedia Act because user consent is “simply assumed” – and not ensured - by third parties who provide games, quizzes, surveys, and other such content on Facebook.

Facebook has been given the September 4 deadline by the VZBV group so that it can tweak the App Center in such a way that the users are made aware of the fact that the social network passes on their personal information to third parties, and also about how these details are being used by the third parties.

With the deadline for tweaking the Facebook App Center coming within weeks of a disclosure - by the Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information - that an investigation will be initiated into Facebook’s policies on tagging photos, retaining and deleting user’s details, and the extent of users’ control over personal data, VZBV said: "The practice of the company ... to assume [consent] simply must come to an end.”