Facebook must face .8 bln UK mass action over market dominance, tribunal rules

Facebook must face $3.8 bln UK mass action over market dominance, tribunal rules

Published February 15,2024


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Facebook should face a collective lawsuit valued at round 3 billion kilos ($3.77 billion) over allegations the social media large abused its dominant place to monetise customers’ private information, a London tribunal dominated on Thursday.

Legal educational Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, who’s bringing the case on behalf of round 45 million Facebook customers within the UK, says they weren’t correctly compensated for the worth of private information that they had to supply.

Her attorneys argue customers ought to get compensation for the financial worth they might have acquired if Facebook was not in a dominant place available in the market for social networks.

Facebook’s mother or father firm Meta Platforms Inc, nonetheless, says the lawsuit is “entirely without merit” and its attorneys argue the claimed losses ignore the financial worth Facebook supplies to its customers.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) final yr refused to present the go-ahead to the case towards Meta.

But the CAT dominated on Thursday {that a} revised declare put ahead by Gormsen’s attorneys must be allowed to proceed in direction of a trial.

Judge Marcus Smith stated in a written ruling {that a} remaining listening to within the case might be heard in “the first half of 2026 at the latest”.

A Meta spokesperson stated in an announcement that the corporate would “vigorously defend” the case.

“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,” they added.

The case towards Meta is the most recent to be given the go-ahead on the CAT, with separate claims towards Sony, Apple and main banks being licensed final yr alone.

Source: www.anews.com.tr