Facebook must face a collective lawsuit worth roughly 3 billion pounds ($3.77 billion) over charges that the social media company misused its dominating position to monetize users’ personal data, a London tribunal concluded on Thursday.
Claims on behalf of the Facebook users
Legal professor Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, who is pursuing the complaint on behalf of around 45 million Facebook users in the UK, claims they were not adequately reimbursed for the value of personal data they were required to submit.
Her attorneys say that users should be compensated for the economic benefit they would have gotten if Facebook did not hold a dominating position in the social networking sector.
Claims of the Facebook’s parent company
Facebook’s parent company, Meta Platforms Inc, claims the action is “entirely without merit,” and its attorneys contend that the alleged losses overlook the economic benefit Facebook delivers to its users.
Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT)
Last year, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) rejected the complaint against Meta.
However, the CAT ruled on Thursday that a new lawsuit filed by Gormsen’s attorneys should be allowed to continue to trial.
Judge Marcus Smith stated in a written order that a final hearing in the matter might take place in “the first half of 2026 at the latest.”
A Meta representative stated that the corporation will “vigorously defend” the complaint.
“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 on.
