Sarah Mirando  |  May 20, 2011

Category: Legal News

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Facebook “Like” Button Class Action Lawsuit

By Sarah Pierce

 

Facebook is the target of a new privacy class action lawsuit for using its “Like” button to plant tracking cookies on the computers of both members and non-members of Facebook.
The Facebook class action lawsuit accuses the popular social media site of using its “Like” button on third-party websites in order to collect users’ browsing information — even if the users don’t click on the button and even if they are not Facebook members. 
Third-party companies place the Facebook “Like” symbol on their websites as a way for members to tag a company or product they like and share their “Like” with other Facebook users. In other words, it acts as a free viral marketing tool that increases traffic and drives advertising revenue. 
Over 2.5 million websites have integrated the Facebook “Like” button, with 10,000 more adding it every day, the lawsuit says. 
According to the Facebook class action, each time a user visits a site with a “Like” button, the user’s updated browsing history is relayed to a Facebook server and associated with a unique identification number. The data is then “priced, bought and sold in discrete units for marketing and other purposes,” the class action lawsuit says. 
Several class action lawsuits and class action settlements involving illegally tracking internet users’ online activity have made the news lately (see some of our news coverage here and here), prompting a “do-not-not-track” bill (SB 761) that is currently making its way through the California legislature. If passed, the bill would give consumers the legal right to bar companies from tracking their online behavior. Last month, numerous companies, including Facebook, sent an opposition letter to the bill’s sponsor calling it “an unconstitutional burden” on internet commerce and an act of “blatant discrimination against the advertising industry.”
The Facebook Like Button Privacy Class Action Lawsuit is Ung et al v. Facebook Inc., Case No. 111-cv-200467, Santa Clara Superior Court. 
 

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Updated May 20th, 2011

 

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3 thoughts onFacebook “Like” Button Class Action Lawsuit

  1. lisa taylor says:

    how dare them to be selling my information

  2. Anonymous says:

    Facebook
    National City Bank Owes me $ for overdraft fee’s.

  3. Anonymous says:

    Facebook
    I think that national city bank. Owe me some $ for closing my account. For overdraft fee’s.

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