{"id":23897,"date":"2021-04-17T05:14:42","date_gmt":"2021-04-17T05:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rbsitsoftwaresolution.com\/blog\/facebook-faces-mass-action-lawsuit-in-europe-over-2019-breach.html"},"modified":"2021-04-17T05:14:42","modified_gmt":"2021-04-17T05:14:42","slug":"facebook-faces-mass-action-lawsuit-in-europe-over-2019-breach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/facebook-faces-mass-action-lawsuit-in-europe-over-2019-breach.html","title":{"rendered":"Facebook faces \u2018mass action\u2019 lawsuit in Europe over 2019 breach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Facebook is to be sued in Europe over the major leak of user data that dates back to 2019 but which only came to light recently<\/a> after information on more than 533 million accounts was found posted for free download on a hacker forum.<\/p>\n

Today Digital Rights Ireland<\/a> (DRI) announced it\u2019s commencing a \u201cmass action\u201d to sue Facebook, citing the right to monetary compensation for breaches of personal data that\u2019s set out in the European Union\u2019s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).<\/p>\n

Article 82 of the GDPR provides for a \u201cright to compensation and liability\u201d for those affected by violations of the law. Since the regulation came into force, in May 2018, related civil litigation has been on the rise in the region.<\/p>\n

The Ireland-based digital rights group is urging Facebook users who live in the European Union or European Economic Area to check whether their data was breached \u2014 via the haveibeenpwned<\/a> website (which lets you check by email address or mobile number) \u2014 and sign up to join the case if so.<\/p>\n

Information leaked via the breach includes Facebook IDs, location, mobile phone numbers, email address, relationship status and employer.<\/p>\n

Facebook has been contacted for comment on the litigation. Update:<\/strong> A Facebook spokesperson said:<\/p>\n

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We understand people\u2019s concerns, which is why we continue to strengthen our systems to make scraping from Facebook without our permission more difficult and go after the people behind it. As LinkedIn and Clubhouse have shown, no company can completely eliminate scraping or prevent data sets like these from appearing. That\u2019s why we devote substantial resources to combat it and will continue to build out our capabilities to help stay ahead of this challenge.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The tech giant\u2019s European headquarters is located in Ireland \u2014 and earlier this week the national data watchdog opened an investigation<\/a>, under EU and Irish data protection laws.<\/p>\n

A mechanism in the GDPR for simplifying investigation of cross-border cases means Ireland\u2019s Data Protection Commission (DPC) is Facebook\u2019s lead data regulator in the EU. However it has been criticized over its handling of and approach to GDPR complaints and investigations \u2014 including the length of time it\u2019s taking to issue decisions on major cross-border cases. And this is particularly true for Facebook.<\/p>\n

With the three-year anniversary of the GDPR fast approaching, the DPC has multiple open investigations into various aspects of Facebook\u2019s business but has yet to issue a single decision against the company.<\/p>\n

(The closest it\u2019s come is a preliminary suspension order<\/a> issued last year, in relation to Facebook\u2019s EU to U.S. data transfers. However, that complaint long predates GDPR; and Facebook immediately filed to block the order<\/a> via the courts. A resolution is expected later this year<\/a> after the litigant filed his own judicial review of the DPC\u2019s processes.)<\/p>\n

Since May 2018 the EU\u2019s data protection regime has \u2014 at least on paper \u2014 baked in fines of up to 4% of a company\u2019s global annual turnover for the most serious violations.<\/p>\n

\n

Understanding Europe\u2019s big push to rewrite the digital rulebook<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Again, though, the sole GDPR fine issued to date by the DPC against a tech giant (Twitter) is very far off that theoretical maximum. Last December<\/a> the regulator announced a \u20ac450,000 (~$547,000) sanction against Twitter \u2014 which works out to around just 0.1% of the company\u2019s full-year revenue.<\/p>\n

That penalty was also for a data breach \u2014 but one which, unlike the Facebook leak, had<\/em> been publicly disclosed when Twitter found it in 2019. So Facebook\u2019s failure to disclose the vulnerability it discovered and claims it fixed by September 2019, which led to the leak of 533 million accounts now, suggests it should<\/em> face a higher sanction from the DPC than Twitter received.<\/p>\n

However, even if Facebook ends up with a more substantial GDPR penalty for this breach the watchdog\u2019s caseload backlog and plodding procedural pace makes it hard to envisage a swift resolution to an investigation that\u2019s only a few days old.<\/p>\n

Judging by past performance it\u2019ll be years before the DPC decides on this 2019 Facebook leak \u2014 which likely explains why the DRI sees value in instigating class action-style litigation in parallel to the regulatory investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompensation is not the only thing that makes this mass action worth joining. It is important to send a message to large data controllers that they must comply with the law and that there is a cost to them if they do not,\u201d DRI writes on its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It also submitted a complaint about the Facebook breach to the DPC earlier this month<\/a>, writing then that it was \u201calso consulting with its legal advisors on other options including a mass action for damages in the Irish Courts\u201d.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear that the GDPR enforcement gap is creating a growing opportunity for litigation funders to step in in Europe and take a punt on suing for data-related compensation damages \u2014 with a number of other mass actions announced last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the case of DRI its focus is evidently on seeking to ensure that digital rights are upheld. But it told RTE<\/a> that it believes compensation claims which force tech giants to pay money to users whose privacy rights have been violated is the best way to make them legally compliant.<\/p>\n

Facebook, meanwhile, has sought to play down the breach it failed to disclose in 2019 \u2014 claiming it\u2019s \u201cold data\u201d \u2014 a deflection that ignores the fact that people\u2019s dates of birth don\u2019t change (nor do most people routinely change their mobile number or email address).<\/p>\n

Plenty of the \u201cold\u201d data exposed in this latest massive Facebook leak will be very handy for spammers and fraudsters to target Facebook users \u2014 and also now for litigators to target Facebook for data-related damages.<\/p>\n

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Ireland opens GDPR investigation into Facebook leak<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

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Facebook\u2019s tardy disclosure of breach timing raises GDPR compliance questions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Answers being sought from Facebook over latest data breach<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunch\/social\/~3\/fKenkrVvinI\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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