Facebook Asks London Court to Block Lawsuit

Facts

• Meta, Facebook’s parent company, Monday asked a London tribunal to block a collective lawsuit worth up to $3.7B ($3B pounds) over allegations the company abused its market dominance to monetize users’ personal data.
• The case, which was brought by legal academic Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, seeks compensation for users who were not properly compensated for the value of personal data they provided to Facebook.
• Gormsen, who brought the case against Meta on behalf of 45M Facebook users, argues that Facebook’s dominant market position in social media costs the users economic value.
• On Monday, Gormsen’s lawyers asked the Competition Appeal Tribunal to certify the case under the UK’s collective proceeding regime – the UK equivalent of a US class action process. Certifying the proceedings depends on whether the individual cases can appropriately be dealt with together.
• Meta’s lawyers argue against the logic of the idea that “excess profits” equates to a financial loss for Facebook users.
• Meta’s lawyers also argued in court documents that the $3.7B figure was “at the very least wildly inflated.” The hearing is expected to continue until Feb. 1.

Sources: Reuters, Economictimes, Sharecast, Reuters, Reuters and Sharecast.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Teenvogue. Facebook is a predatory monopoly that brings negative consequences for its users and society at large. Facebook obtains user data in ways that are not transparent, and then it uses that data to become the biggest marketing force in the world. With billions of daily users, Facebook is too big and must be reined in.
• Narrative B, as provided by About. Facebook is being unfairly attacked by regulators and being bombarded by frivolous lawsuits. Facebook is not a monopoly and has no monopolistic power. The platform constantly works to improve and innovate because of its competition. Attempts to frame Facebook as a 'robber baron' company are fallacious.