Facebook is in even more trouble this time around for allegedly violating UK competition law. Led by Lisa Lovdahl Gormsen, doctor of international competition law, a class-action complaint was filed with the Competition Court of Appeals (a court specializing in economic regulation and competition-related cases) in London on 13 January. This aims to convict the Meta group for abuse of dominant position. Plaintiffs are seeking a judgment of up to £2.3 billion (approximately 2.8 billion euros).
By using the personal data of its users, Facebook is abusing a dominant position in the eyes of Lisa Lovdahl Gormsen.
On behalf of British Facebook users, a complaint has been filed against its parent company Meta, which the network’s 44 million members accuse of abusing its dominant position by illegally exploiting their personal data. 2019 for sure.
Lisa Lovdahl Gormsen, the legal expert behind the complaint, explains through filing that Mark Zuckerberg’s firm abused its dominant position by imposing unfair terms and conditions on users to exploit their data.
The lawsuit accuses dev Meta of violating the Competition Act 1998 and says the price paid by users in the UK is unfair. This price is private data submitted by citizens that allows Facebook to generate most of its revenue through targeted advertising.
Facebook is not a free social network for complainers
Price, advertising, revenue… And what did users get in return for all of this? This is precisely the subject of the complaint, which condemns the lack of justice for users who had to give full access to their personal data in order to gain free access to the social network. only symbolically, personal information left on the platform that fuels the group’s economic model. And that, in the lawyer’s eyes, constitutes an abuse of dominance, as users have no choice but to comply with Facebook’s policy.
In a press release provided to AFP, a spokesperson for Meta said, “People are accessing our service for free. They choose it because it provides them with a valuable service and they have significant control over what information they share with Meta’s platform and with whom.” It should not be forgotten until the release of Facebook that the user agrees to the collection of his data during registration.
A complaint on behalf of all Britons and an pending lawsuit in the USA
The complaint seeks 2.8 billion euros to properly reimburse the 44 million British Facebook users who were eligible for a monetary reward for helping to raise billions of dollars according to the complaint, in a lawsuit involving both privacy and competition. as income for the Californian band. 44 million users are represented by direct complaint through this procedure.
At the same time, Meta is the subject of a dominance charge, this time in the United States (especially for acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram, which will be made to crack down on Facebook‘s potential future rivals). The American Competition Authority’s equivalent complaint, found admissible by a federal judge, should well lead to a trial.
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