BONN (dpa-AFX) - German Olympic athletes will have less restrictions on advertising and more freedom in the use of social media around the Games in Paris this summer. This was announced by the Federal Cartel Office on Wednesday.

"The athletes are the top performers at the Olympic Games. However, they cannot benefit directly from the IOC's very high advertising revenue from official Olympic sponsors. This makes it all the more important for them to market themselves through advertising opportunities," said Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: "At this year's Games in Paris, the opening of the advertising rules for members of Team Germany and their sponsors, which was already brought about by our proceedings in 2019, will be guaranteed. What is new this year is a further relaxation for the use of social media."

In 2019, antitrust proceedings were initiated against the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on suspicion of abuse of a dominant market position. According to the Cartel Office, the IOC and DOSB committed themselves to opening commitments.

According to the updated rule, athletes could, for example, "use their smartphones to record short videos at the Olympic venues and of the opening and closing ceremonies and use these on their social media accounts, as long as this is not for advertising purposes"./sho/DP/men