Consumers union and TPS take Facebook back to court

Consumers Union and the Data Privacy Foundation (DPS) won a lawsuit against Facebook to protect privacy rights. According to the parties, this paves the way for compensation for Dutch consumers. Consumers Union and DBS are launching a new lawsuit against Facebook over the storage of Dutch users’ data in the United States (USA).

Facebook has violated the privacy of Dutch users, an Amsterdam court said this week. The social media platform is not informing consumers adequately about the use of their data. Company does not seek permission to use user data for advertising purposes. “It is wrong for a Facebook user as a consumer to have sufficient information about the use of personal data for commercial purposes. The average consumer cannot make an informed decision about participating in the Facebook service,” the court said.

Important signal

Sandra Molenaar, director of the Consumers Union, was delighted with the ruling and spoke of an important signal: ‘This is a very important win for consumers. Court rules harshly on Facebook. Facebook should not have used the data of millions of users in the Netherlands for advertising purposes. This is an amazing statement and a very strong signal. Not just for Facebook, but for other tech companies that violate privacy laws. Violations do not go unpunished.’

Dick Bouma, head of DPS: ‘With this ruling, consumers can finally seek redress for Facebook’s privacy violations. Facebook now has it to offer. We would like to discuss this with the company along with the consumer association.

A new case

Consumers Union and DPS announced a second lawsuit against Facebook. Molenaar: ‘The European Court of Justice has twice ruled that a tech company breached the GDPR by sending data. Nevertheless, Facebook continued to send the personal data of its European users to the United States, where they were accessible to American intelligence services. It is a gross violation of privacy.’

Consumers who had a Facebook account between April 1, 2010 and January 1, 2020 and want to qualify for compensation for the use of their Facebook data can register with the Consumers Association. Anyone who has a Facebook or Instagram account after May 25, 2018 and wants to claim compensation for sending data to the US can also sign up. Users can choose either one or both claims. There is more information Here Available.