Particle.news
Download on the App Store
3 ARTICLES
·
4h ago

Hamburg Court Opens Hearing on Consumer Collective Action Against Meta Over Facebook Data Leak

The court opens with a focus on admissibility questions, particularly jurisdiction.

Image
Image
Das Hanseatische Oberlandesgericht befasst sich am Freitag mit einer Sammelklage gegen die Facebook-Mutter Meta. Verbraucherschützer wollen erreichen, dass Betroffene eines Datenlecks Schadenersatz geltend machen können.

Overview

  • Judges began the first session on Friday with procedural issues, and no ruling is expected at the close of the hearing, with a separate announcement date to follow.
  • Germany’s consumer group vzbv seeks a model declaratory judgment to streamline compensation of roughly €100 to €600 per person depending on the scope of exposed data.
  • More than 14,000 people have registered so far, and sign-ups remain open, with a recommendation to register by October 31 to safeguard claims from time-bar issues.
  • The case stems from data scraped via Facebook’s phone-number search from January 2018 to September 2019, with 533 million user records published online in April 2021 after Meta disabled the feature.
  • The action relies on a Federal Court of Justice ruling (VI ZR 10/24) that loss of control over personal data can warrant damages, and follows a €265 million fine imposed on Meta by Ireland’s regulator in 2022.