- A Dutch court hearing a class action lawsuit on Wednesday held Meta Platforms, Inc's META Facebook Ireland responsible for misusing the personal data of Dutch citizens from 2010 - 2020.
- Facebook illegally shared personal information with third parties for advertising without informing Facebook users, Reuters reports citing the Amsterdam court ruling.
- Facebook Ireland is part of the company that governs the processing of Dutch user data.
- A spokesperson for the plaintiff, Data Privacy Stichting, said the group now hopes to sit down with Facebook to negotiate a settlement.
- Spokesperson Gerard Spierenburg said, "We think this is a very strong signal not only to Facebook but to all companies that are unrightfully using their users' data."
- A spokesperson for Meta said the company was "pleased" with parts of the decision but would appeal others, noting that some of the claims date back more than a decade.
- Spierenburg said 190,000 had signed up for the initiative. Still, roughly 10 million Dutch people who used Facebook during the relevant period can join if the case moves to a damages phase.
- Meta has faced several user privacy allegations. In January, Facebook urged a London tribunal to block a collective lawsuit worth up to £3 billion ($3.7 billion) for allegedly abusing its influence to monetize users' data.
- The social media giant faced mass action from around 45 million Facebook users in Britain.
- Last August, Meta reached a $37.5 million settlement regarding a 2018 lawsuit alleging Facebook of tracking U.S. user movements through their smartphones without permission.
- In 2022, Meta settled a lawsuit alleging Facebook of its use of tracking "cookies" in 2010 and 2011 to track subscribers' internet use even after they had logged off the platform.
- Price Action: META shares traded lower by 0.62% at $192.82 on the last check Wednesday.
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