(Reuters) – Social media giant Facebook, now referred to as Meta Platforms, faces a couple.3 billion pound-plus ($3.2 billion-plus) class action in great britan over allegations it abused its market dominance by exploiting the private data of 44 million users.
Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, a senior adviser to Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority watchdog, said she was bringing the case with respect to individuals Britain who had used Facebook between 2022 and 2022.
The lawsuit, which is heard by London’s Competition Appeal Tribunal, alleges Facebook made billions of pounds by imposing unfair terms and conditions that demanded consumers surrender valuable private data to gain access to the network.
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, the law firm representing Ms. Lovdahl Gormsen, has notified Facebook from the claim.
Facebook said people used its services because it delivered value on their behalf and “they have meaningful control of what information they share on Meta’s platforms and who with.”
“In the 17 years since it was created, Facebook had become the sole social networking in the U.K. where you could make sure to interact with family and friends in one place,” Ms. Lovdahl Gormsen said.
“Yet, there is a negative side to Facebook; it abused its market dominance to impose unfair terms and conditions on ordinary Britons, passing on the ability to take advantage of their personal data.”
Ms. Lovdahl Gormsen alleges Facebook collected data within its platform and thru mechanisms such as the Facebook Pixel, letting it build an “all-seeing picture” of Internet usage and generate valuable, deep data profiles of users.
A U.S. judge declined to dismiss the government Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit against Facebook, one of the biggest challenges by the U.S. government against a tech company in decades as Washington tries to tackle Big Tech’s extensive market power.
