Facebook, now known as Meta Platforms, faces a GBP 2.3 billion-plus class action in Britain over allegations it abused its market dominance by exploiting the personal data of 44 million users.
Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, a senior adviser to Britain's
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) watchdog and a competition law academic, said
she was bringing the case on behalf of people in Britain who had used Facebook
between 2015 and 2019.
The lawsuit, which will be heard by London's Competition
Appeal Tribubal, alleges Facebook made billions of pounds by imposing unfair
terms and conditions that demanded consumers surrender valuable personal data
to access the network.
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, the law firm
representing Lovdahl Gormsen, has notified Facebook of the claim.
Facebook said people used its services because it delivered
value for them and "they have meaningful control of what information they
share on Meta's platforms and who with."
The case comes days after Facebook lost an attempt to strike
out an antitrust lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), one of the
biggest challenges by the US government against a tech company in decades as
Washington attempts to tackle Big Tech's extensive market power.
"In the 17 years since it was created, Facebook became
the sole social network in the UK where you could be sure to connect with
friends and family in one place," Lovdahl Gornsen said.
"Yet, there was a dark side to Facebook; it abused its
market dominance to impose unfair terms and conditions on ordinary Britons,
giving it the power to exploit their personal data."
Lovdahl Gormsen alleges Facebook collected data within its
platform and through mechanisms like the Facebook Pixel, allowing it to build
an "all-seeing picture" of Internet usage and generate valuable, deep
data profiles of users.
Opt-out class actions, like Lovdahl Gormsen's, bind a
defined group automatically into a lawsuit unless individuals opt out. ©
Reuters
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