Facebook is again facing a major legal battle in the UK. It is being sued for 3 billion pounds ($3.77 billion) over allegations of mass data collection. The lawsuit, which legal academic Liza Lovdahl Gormsen filed, accuses the social media giant of unlawfully collecting and monetizing the personal data of 45 million users.
The lawsuit alleges that Facebook has significant access to the user’s data on non-Facebook platforms like Instagram. The plaintiff is now requesting the company compensate for the data collected from 45 million users in the United Kingdom. Lawyers claim Facebook is using its dominance in the market to get away with compensation.
A legal academic in the UK files a lawsuit against Facebook over collecting user’s data and not paying for it
In response, Meta refused the allegations and referred them as “entirely without merit.” The company also said it would vigorously defend against the claims. Additionally, Meta noted the lawyers have forgotten the economic value Facebook provides users.
“We are committed to giving people meaningful control of what information they share on our platforms and who with, and already invest heavily to create tools that allow them to do so,” Meta said.
As the lawsuit claims, Facebook “has caused its UK users to suffer loss and damage, in particular because they have not been adequately compensated for the commercial value of their data collected and monetized by Facebook concerning their activities off Facebook’s social media site.”
Last year, The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) dismissed the allegations against Meta. However, on Thursday, the CAT ruled that Gormsen’s lawyers have proposed a revised claim. And it proceeds to a new trial against the social media giant. Judge Marcus Smith said the case could be heard in “the first half of 2026 at the latest”.
A huge compensation is demanded
The plaintiffs demand compensation between $2.6 – 3.9 (£2.07 – 3.1) billion. If the court rules against Facebook, anyone in the UK with a Facebook account between February 2016 and October 2023 will get a portion of the money.
This could be one of the biggest lawsuits against Meta, and the tech firm could lose a pile of money in a data collection case. Similarly, in 2022, Facebook agreed to pay $725 million to settle the Cambridge Analytica scandal case.
2024-02-21 15:07:01