Facebook looks to block UK lawsuit

Facebook owner Meta Platforms is looking to have a collective lawsuit that was brought against it in London thrown out, it was reported on Monday.

Academic Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, a specialist in international competition law, has brought the case against Meta on behalf of around 45m Facebook users. She argues that users were not properly compensated for the value of the personal data they had to provide to use the platform.

In particular, the lawsuit argues that users should get compensation for the economic value they would have received if Facebook was not in a dominant market position for social networks.

On Monday, Lovdahl Gormsen’s lawyers asked the Competition Appeal Tribunal to certify the case under the collective proceedings regime, which is similar to class actions in the US, Reuters reported.

But in response Meta - which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp - has argued that the lawsuit is “entirely without merit” and should not be allowed to proceed, as it does not take into account the “significant economic value” Facebook provides.

The lawsuit estimates that potential claimants’ losses total around £3bn, including interest, but Meta’s lawyers argued in court documents that the figure was “at the very least wildly inflated”, Reuters noted.

The hearing is expected to continue until 1 February 2023.