Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.
Facebook Asks Judge to Dismiss $15 Billion Tracking Class Action Lawsuit
By Matt O’Donnell
Facebook on Friday asked a federal judge to dismiss a $15 billion class action lawsuit accusing the company of secretly tracking users’ Internet activity after they log out of their Facebook accounts, saying Plaintiffs didn’t specify how they were harmed.
A lawyer for Facebook said the privacy class action lawsuit suffers from an “utter lack of allegations of any injury” to the Plaintiffs, adding that Plaintiffs haven’t identified what websites they visited, what kind of data or information was collected, or whether Facebook used the information or disclosed it to other parties.
The $15 billion Facebook tracking class action lawsuit combines 21 separate lawsuits filed in the United States in 2011 and early 2012. The cases were combined in February 2012 and Plaintiffs slapped Facebook with the new “super” privacy class action lawsuit in May 2012.
Plaintiffs accuse Facebook of violating federal wiretap laws, which carry statutory damages per user of $100 per day per violation, up to $10,000 per user.
The Facebook class action lawsuit also accuses Facebook of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Stored Communications Act, and various California laws. It is seeking to represent all U.S. residents who subscribed to Facebook from May 2010 to September 2011.
A lawyer for the Facebook users told U.S. District Judge Edward Davila he should reject Facebook’s attempt to dismiss the class action lawsuit, saying that “generalized allegations of harm suffice” at this stage.
“Nowhere in Facebook’s privacy policies does the company say, ‘We are involved in your communication with third party websites after you log out,’” the Plaintiffs’ lawyer said. Facebook subscribers used their computers in the way they were entitled to, and Facebook, “through a trick,” intercepted their electronic communications with third-party websites, which amounts to a violation of federal wiretap and stored communication laws, he added.
Judge Davila did not issue a decision on Facebook’s request to dismiss the class action lawsuit. As we mentioned before, Facebook has a good track record of defending itself against cookie-tracking lawsuits. The majority of them have been tossed out of court because browser cookies are not yet considered wiretaps and Plaintiffs have difficulty proving any harm.
The case is In re: Facebook Internet Tracking Litigation, Case No. 5:12-md-02314-EJD, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose).
UPDATE: On Mar. 10, 2016, Facebook asked a federal judge to dismiss the privacy class action lawsuit because the plaintiffs failed to show that they’ve actually been injured.
All class action and lawsuit news updates are listed in the Lawsuit News section of Top Class Actions
Top Class Actions Legal Statement
2 thoughts onFacebook Asks Judge to Dismiss $15 Billion Tracking Class Action Lawsuit
UPDATE: On Mar. 10, 2016, Facebook asked a federal judge to dismiss the privacy class action lawsuit because the plaintiffs failed to show that they’ve actually been injured.
Not only does facebook follows you after you log out but it tells people when your are nearby even if nearby is turn off .a stranger can say they yor friend and its reveals your approximate area i believed this to be dangerous and invade of privacy