100 Million Euro Lawsuit Hits Facebook

The French Internet Society, a non-governmental organization, is pursuing a class action lawsuit against Facebook, for allegedly violating users’ privacy.

It said it had sent Facebook a formal notice listing seven areas where it had failed to respect personal data. The action follows a number of complaints from individuals, concerning Facebook’s alleged breaches of the provisions of the GDPR.

The Society claims several hundred people had joined its campaign, part of the ‘eBastille’ initiative. And it hopes to get 100 million of Facebook’s278 million users in France to back the lawsuit.

Odile Ambry, the Society’s honorary president, said:

“This action aims to show that individuals are neither alone nor powerless to have their rights respected. We hope this will create a European dynamic.”

The alleged faults include gathering data on sexuality, religious beliefs and political views, whilst disallowing people to partially block data gathering.

The group also claims Facebook uses cookies to track activity of people who simply consult its website without being members.

The social media giant has four months to respond to the notice under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Failing to respond could trigger the class action suit.

The Society estimates if Facebook is found to have breached privacy laws, it should have to pay damages to each user.

Its campaign comes ahead of Unesco’s annual internet governance forum in Paris this week, in which the NGO isparticipating.

Facebook executives will also be in Paris as part of Paris Digital Week alongside the Paris Peace Forum being hosted by President Macron.