kna/soid | The non-profit consumer protection association (vsv) is demanding up to 10,000 euros in damages for those who take part in the class action lawsuit against Meta. This is about a business practice that, according to the association, which is based in Austria, affects 50 million people in Germany alone who have a Facebook or Instagram account.
That the Meta company behind Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp It’s no secret that he makes money from advertising. The users have long since accepted the deal: free use in exchange for the data that Meta collects and processes. The group sells these to the advertising industry in order to be able to personalize ads even more precisely. However, users of Instagram and Facebook can reject the practices that the group operates under the name Meta Business Tools.
With the consent of the digital company, companies can equip their websites and apps with programs that are invisible to users. If these are active in the background, all user behavior is saved and forwarded to Meta. “So also content from the innermost intimate sphere, such as worldview, health or sexual preferences,” as it says on the homepage of vsv, which is leading a class action lawsuit against the digital company in collaboration with the Berlin law firm BK Baumeister & Colleagues.
According to a ruling by the European Court of Justice from summer 2023, Meta is violating the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). According to the vsv, 50 million people in Germany alone are affected by this business practice. Anyone who lives in Germany and has an Instagram or Facebook account can join the lawsuit. The aim is to obtain the deletion of the collected data and the cessation of the business practice. The plaintiffs are also demanding damages of 5,000 euros for adult users and 10,000 euros for underage users.
Adapt business practices
“The discussion about surveillance capitalism, i.e. the rampant data collection by Big Tech, is already quite old,” says Erik Tuchtfeld, co-chair of the civil society organization D64 – Center for Digital Progress. With the recent shift in the balance of political power in the USA, the topic has become even more important in recent months, said Tuchtfeld. He advises users to join the class action lawsuit “just to get some compensation for the feeling of constant surveillance.”
Beyond individual requirements, the process also has overarching importance, says Tuchtfeld. “As a society, our goal should be to stop these practices.” His hope: that a large number of participants in the class action lawsuit will ultimately lead Meta to adapt its business practices. When asked by the KNA media service, the company itself did not want to comment on the subject of the lawsuit. Meanwhile, the Munich Higher Regional Court decided a few days ago in a similar case that users affected by Meta Business Tools are entitled to compensation of between 250 and 750 euros.
At the end of February, another class action lawsuit against the Meta Group will be heard at the Hamburg Higher Regional Court. This is about the theft of 530 million Facebook user data from 2018/2019, which was illegally offered for sale on the Darknet a few years ago. In the lawsuit brought by the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (vzbv), the tech company is accused of violating data protection law. 22,500 people have already joined the lawsuit, says Sebastian Reiling from the Federal Association of Consumer Advice Centers. “If you get involved, it’s very quick, uncomplicated and free of charge.” The advantages are obvious, says Reiling: “You don’t bear any personal risk of legal costs and have the chance to benefit from the outcome of the process.”
Scam calls and grandchild trick
With the class action lawsuit, the vzbv would like to establish that Meta must pay at least 100 euros in compensation to those injured. For the publication of the email address, date of birth and place of residence there is an additional 100 euros in damages, and for the publication of the relationship status there is an additional 200 euros in compensation, so that the total amount can be up to 600 euros. In an earlier judgment against Facebook, the Federal Court of Justice determined that the loss of control over personal data should be compensated with damages of 100 euros. Users can do so until at least March 20th verify whether they were affected by the leak and join the class action lawsuit.
It is not always clear at first glance how big the consequences of data loss can be. But Reiling warns: advertising or fraud calls and SMS from unknown numbers, phishing emails and even the so-called grandchild trick can be based on the stolen data sets, according to the consumer advocate. “You can take entire identities and act with them in any way you want. All sorts of devilish things you can imagine can be done with them.”
In a statement on the vzbv’s proceedings, a spokesman for Meta writes upon request: “We firmly reject these unfounded allegations and are appealing against the judgments. Hundreds of similar individual lawsuits have already been dismissed by German courts because the judges did not assert any legitimate claims for liability or damages. We appeal to all those affected to carefully examine the facts before joining hopeless lawsuits.”