Facebook faces $3.2 bn fine in UK over abuse of market dominance
Facebook is under fire for violations of user privacy and using coercive measures against users into accepting aggressive terms and conditions.
-
This is not the first time that Facebook is fined for violating user privacy.
UK competition law expert Liza Lovdahl Gormsen announced Friday she had brought a class-action lawsuit against Facebook's parent company Meta for allegedly forcing UK users to accept aggressive data collection practices if they wanted to sign up for the social network.
"I am launching a major class-action claim against Meta for abusing its market dominance for a minimum of £2.3 billion damages on behalf of affected UK Facebook users," Gromsen, director of the Competition Law Forum, wrote on Twitter.
I am launching a major class-action claim against Meta for abusing its market dominance for a minimum of £2.3 billion damages on behalf of affected UK Facebook users. For more information see https://t.co/q4MGHdtEkT
— Liza Lovdahl Gormsen (@LizaGormsen) January 14, 2022
Gormsen's class action argues that the social media network had forced British users to accept unfair terms and conditions "on a take it or leave basis."
She said Meta put up accessing its social network up in exchange for users' highly valuable personal data and zero monetary recompense.
"By exploiting users' data, both within the Facebook platform and off-platform through mechanisms like the Facebook Pixel, the company was able to build very detailed pictures of users' internet usage," the legal team working the case said Friday.
"By using deep data profiles of its users, the company generated excessive profits," they added.
The case, brought under the Competition Act, will be the first of its kind against Meta in the United Kingdom, and law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan is handling the case.
The country's most prominent competition lawyers, barristers, and economists are supporting the case that has garnered widespread support from the British public.
French regulators had fined Facebook, alongside Google, 210 million euros ($237 million) for their use of "cookies," the data used to track users online.
