Austria court upholds Facebook ban for broadcaster

(AP)—A court in Austria has upheld a Facebook ban for state broadcaster ORF after the country' broadcast regulators ruled that its statutes do not allow it a presence on the social media site.

The Administrative Court was acting on an appeal from ORF, which challenged the regulators' conclusion that the broadcaster's Facebook presence gave it an unfair competitive edge against private broadcast and print media. The ruling did not affect ORF's news summaries posted on Facebook but was directed at other pages not directly linked to news.

The court on Wednesday said ORF's appeal of the regulators' decision earlier this year was "without merit."

The complaint was raised last year by Austrian newspaper publishers.

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