Facebook was set to be the subject of a multi-million dollar class-action lawsuit filed on Friday by a British competition law expert, alleging that the US social network abused its dominant position with “unfair” terms.
The academic, a former adviser to Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority watchdog, alleges that Facebook abused its market dominance to force UK users to agree to terms and conditions that allowed it to generate revenue from their subscriptions. data.
Gormsen argues that this was “unfair treatment” because it allowed “intrusive collection” of data without monetary benefit to users, the statement added.
The landmark claim, which would be the first of its kind in Britain, seeks financial compensation for 44 million UK Facebook users between 2015 and 2019.
Gormsen contends that Facebook collected data both on its own platform and through advertising tools to monitor how users behave on the site.
“In the 17 years since it was created, Facebook became the only social network in the UK where you could be sure to connect with friends and family in one place,” Gormsen said in the statement.
“However, Facebook had a dark side: it abused its market dominance to impose unfair terms and conditions on ordinary Britons, giving it the power to exploit their personal data.”
Gormsen said he was “launching this case to secure billions of pounds in damages for the 44 million Britons whose data was exploited by Facebook.”
In response, Meta emphasized that Facebook was a free service, adding that users retained “significant control” over their shared information.
“People access our service for free. They choose our services because we provide them with value and they have significant control over what information they share on Meta platforms and with whom,” a statement said.
“We have invested a lot to create tools that allow them to do it.”