Facebook facing second collective consumer action for failing to protect data

Facebook is being sued under a consumer representative action for the “loss of control” of about one million users’ personal data in England and Wales. The claim has been filed in the High Court by journalist and writer Peter Jukes on behalf of himself and affected Facebook users. The action claims that their data was compromised between November 2013 and May 2015. Facebook was fined the maximum possible £500,000 in 2018 by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for breaking data laws under the Data Protection Act, following an investigation into the use of personal data during the Brexit campaign. This was the highest fine available at the time but would likely have been much higher under the GDPR that has since come into force. The ICO punishment followed news that the This is Your Digital Life app, which operated on the Facebook platform, was used to harvest the data of 50 million Facebook users. Since then, the estimated number of users involved has risen to 87 million. Facebook itself estimates that at least one million UK users were affected. The consumer action brought by Mr Jukes alleges that Facebook allowed This is Your Digital Life to access personal information of users and their Facebook friends. It says this was done entirely without their knowledge or consent and opened up information to abuse by third parties such as Cambridge Analytica. The claimants are being represented by international law firm Hausfeld, which specialises in collective redress and group actions. The representative action seeks damages from Facebook for failing to comply with its statutory duties under the Data Protection Act 1998. It is being brought on behalf of adult Facebook users who were “friends” with users of the This is Your Digital Life app before May 2015. The claim is being brought under Rule 19.6 of the Civil Procedure Rules, which allow the representative claimant to bring a claim on behalf of a class of people with the same interest. Everyone with the same interest as the class representative is included in the claimant class unless they choose to opt out. There is no cost for claimants to participate. The claim is backed by litigation funder Balance Legal Capital. A similar mass legal action was filed against Facebook in October by the group Facebook You Owe Us, represented by law firm Milberg London. Because the two cases are similar, the High Court could choose to merge the claims or hold them simultaneously. Commenting on his decision to bring the action against Facebook, Mr Jukes said: “Facebook profits from its billions of users, who reasonably rely on the platform to protect the personal information they entrust to it. Facebook exploited that trust by making users’ private data available to a third-party app, without their consent or even knowledge. This opened our personal data up to abuse. It is only right that we, as consumers, hold Facebook to account for failing to comply with the law and for putting our personal data at risk, to ensure that this is not allowed to happen again.” Michael Bywell, Partner at Hausfeld, said:“Facebook breached its legal obligations to protect the data of its users. The law is clear that Facebook had a duty to safeguard users’ personal information – a duty that it neglected. With an experienced team, committed class representative, and funding and after-the-event insurance in place, we believe this claim offers the best avenue of redress for consumers who suffered at the hands of Facebook’s failure to abide by data protection laws.” Last week, it was reported that Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp is facing a fine of up to €50m for data protection breaches under Europe’s GDPR.

Facebook facing second collective consumer action for failing to protect data

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