A competition law expert, backed by a large litigation fund, is preparing to file a multibillion-dollar class-action lawsuit against Facebook/Meta, alleging that it abused its dominance in social networking in the United Kingdom for several years. If the lawsuit were successful, Facebook would force to pay $3.1 billion (£2.3 billion) in damages to Facebook users in the United Kingdom. The class-action case was filed at the United Kingdom’s Competition Appeal Tribunal in London yesterday against Meta, Facebook’s parent company.
According to the novel method, Facebook should compensate its 44 million UK users for data abuse between 2015 and 2019. In effect, it’s claiming that Facebook grabbed all of its users’ personal and private data — who had no other viable social platform owing to Facebook’s dominance — and all they got in return was the ability to send images of infants and kittens to their friends and relatives. Dr. Liza Lovdahl Gormsen (shown here), an international competition law specialist who has testified before the UK Parliament on Facebook’s market dominance and produced scholarly legal papers about it, is leading the charge.
Dr. Lovdahl Gormsen’s argument is based on the notion that Facebook (recently rebranded Meta) charged U.K. Facebook customers an “unfair price.” The “price” for giving access to the social network was the surrender of very valuable personal data from U.K. users, in exchange for “free” access to Facebook’s social networking platform and no monetary reimbursement, all while Facebook raked in billions of dollars.
The case’s central allegation is that Facebook “encircled” its U.K. users not just by locking them and their data within its platform, but also by tracking them on other websites using the Facebook pixel, resulting in deep “social graph” data about them. Germain’s response to Dr. Lovdahl Gormsen’s claim is that user profiles have often surfaced in incidents, such as the Cambridge Analytica scandal, demonstrating their market exploitation.
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, the lawyers for Dr. Lovdahl Gormsen, have written to Meta to inform them of the allegation. Dr. Lovdahl Gormsen will represent the class of people affected, which includes all UK residents who accessed Facebook at least once between October 1, 2015, and December 31, 2019.
The “opt-out” class action is the first of its type in England and Wales against Meta. As an opt-out lawsuit, Facebook’s 4 million U.K. users will not require joining the case in order to collect damages, but they will be included in the claim unless they want to opt-out. Innsworth, one of the world’s top lawsuit financiers, is supporting the cause financially. Quinn Emanuel and Innsworth have a record of accomplishment of filing consumer class action lawsuits.
Meta is also facing a consumer class action in the United States, regulatory action around the world, and antitrust litigation from the Federal Trade Commission in the United States, which could separate it from the Instagram and WhatsApp platforms. “In the 17 years since it was formed, Facebook became the only social network in the UK where you could be sure to connect with friends and family in one place,” Dr Lovdahl Gormsen said in a statement. However, Facebook had a bad side: it utilized its market dominance to force unfair terms and conditions on regular Britons, allowing it to exploit their personal data.
I’m filing this lawsuit in order to recover billions of pounds in damages for the 44 million Britons whose data was misused by Facebook.” I questioned Dr. Lovdahl Gormsen over the phone if Facebook might argue that other social networks, such as Twitter or Myspace, were available.
“I don’t believe individuals can interact with their family and friends in the same way they can on Twitter, Snapchat, and other social media platforms.” “The way Facebook is handling it is extremely unique,” she said. The action is also predicated on the Facebook pixel’s widespread use on other websites. What does that have to do with the case, I wondered?
