Supreme Court Denies Facebook Appeal On Curtailing $15B Tracking Lawsuit

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by Facebook FB to scale back a $15-billion lawsuit accusing the company of illegally tracking the internet activities of its users.

The Case In Question: The lawsuit, Facebook v. Perrin Aikens Davis et al, accuses the social media giant of violating the Wiretap Act between April 2010 and September 2011 by enabling cookies and plug-ins to intercept users’ online activities outside of the Facebook platform without obtaining their consent.

Facebook initially responded to the lawsuit by stating it protects users’ privacy rights and the actions in question were typical in computer-to-computer communications. The case was dismissed by the Northern District of California District Court in November 2017, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in April 2020 that the plaintiffs could revive the case, noting that Facebook’s actions would not afford the users “a meaningful opportunity to control or prevent the unauthorized exploration of their private lives.”

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The Supremes Weigh In: In November, Facebook filed a writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court, stating it did not violate the Wiretap Act. The lawsuit also accused Facebook of violating privacy rights, which the company did not contest in its appeal to the Supreme Court.

“Facebook was not an uninvited interloper to a communication between two separate parties; it was a direct participant,” the company said in its court filing.

In dismissing the appeal, the justices offered no explanation for their ruling.

Photo courtesy SupremeCourt.gov.

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