San Jose, CA: A potential privacy class action lawsuit privacy class action lawsuit has been filed by two Facebook users against Facebook alleging the social media platform scans messages between users labeled "private" for links and other information that can be sold to third parties including advertisers, marketers and data aggregators. The lawsuit is seeking class action status, with a potential 166 million Facebook users in the US eligible to join the class.
Filed by Matthew Campbell from Arkansas and Michael Hurley from Oregon in a US district court in Northern California, the lawsuit claims that Facebook data mines "private"messages without disclosing it does so, or seeking users' consent. Specifically, the lawsuit alleges Facebook' intercepting and using links in "private"messages between users is in violation of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and California privacy and unfair competition laws.
"Facebook's desire to harness the myriad data points of its users has led to overreach and intrusion ... as it mines its account holders' private communications for monetary gain," the lawsuit contends.
