Two Facebook Class Action Lawsuit for Data-Sharing Partnerships
Two new lawsuits filed against Facebook say it mislead users about data security, leading them to believe they can control who accesses their data, when in reality, the company sells consumer data to third parties. They seek billions of dollars in damages from Facebook for sharing users’ private data with device makers.
One of the lawsuits, filed by lead plaintiff Velma Rankins of Oakland, California, claims that Facebook created a “secret back door” to share millions of users’ private data with more than 60 device makers, including Apple, Samsung, and Amazon, starting in 2007. Rankins seeks damages on behalf of herself and all similarly affected Facebook users in the U.S. who made Facebook accounts between Aug. 30, 2014 and April 19, 2018.
The lawsuit cites violations of the Stored Communications Act, California privacy rights and business laws, intrusion upon seclusion, trespass to personal property, and nuisance. Rankins seeks a permanent injunction barring Facebook from sharing such data, class certification, disgorgement, punitive damages, and statutory damages of $1,000 for each violation of the Stored Communications Act.
A second, similar class action was also filed against Facebook by lead plaintiff Susan Hwang, another California resident.
The lawsuits comes after a major scandal rocked Facebook earlier this year for sharing 87 million users’ private data with a data-mining firm. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress amidst a series of privacy class actions related to the scandal. A separate flood of litigation accused the company of collecting Android phone users’ contacts, call histories and text message data without consent.
Conclusion
These lawsuits are in the early stages. But keep an eye out as almost everyone out there should be affected. I doubt we’ll see payments of $1,000 for every user, but hopefully there’s some kind of compensation.
Lower Spend - Chase Ink Business Preferred® 100K!
Chase Ink Business Preferred® is a powerful card that earns 3X Ultimate Rewards points in a broad range of business categories on the first $150K in spend per year. Right now earn 100K Chase Ultimate Rewards points after Learn more about this card and its features!
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
