Journalist Peter Jukes is leading the class action, which is backed by law firm Hausfeld and funded by Balance Legal Capital
Social media company Facebook has been hit with a new class action in the London High Court. (Credit: Gerd Altmann from Pixabay)
Facebook has been hit by a class action in the UK over allegations that it did not protect the personal details of nearly a million people in England and Wales.
The social media giant has already been subject to a class action in the London High Court, which was filed in October 2020. The company was sued at that time for failing to protect the personal data of users in the Cambridge Analytica breach.
Peter Jukes, a journalist and author, said that he had filed the latest class action against Facebook. However, Jukes did not disclose the compensation he was seeking from the social media company.
As per the claim, Facebook allowed a third-party app called This is Your Digital Life to access the personal data of users without their consent or knowledge between November 2013 and May 2015. The app is also said to have got access to the personal information of users’ Facebook friends.
The alleged failings of the social media firm came to light during the Cambridge Analytica scandal which involved the use of harvested data for political advertising.
Jukes said: “Facebook profits from its billions of users, who reasonably rely on the platform to protect the personal information they entrust to it. Facebook exploited that trust by making users’ private data available to a third-party app, without their consent or even knowledge.
“This opened our personal data up to abuse. It is only right that we, as consumers, hold Facebook to account for failing to comply with the law and for putting our personal data at risk, and to ensure that this is not allowed to happen again.”
The representative action seeks compensation from Facebook, on behalf of impacted individuals in England and Wales.
It has been filed by law firm Hausfeld on behalf of Jukes and other users. The class action is being financed by Balance Legal Capital.
Hausfeld partner Michael Bywell said: “Facebook breached its legal obligations to protect the data of its users. The law is clear that Facebook had a duty to safeguard users’ personal information – a duty that it neglected.
“With an experienced team, committed class representative and funding and ATE insurance in place, we believe this claim offers the best avenue of redress for consumers who suffered at the hands of Facebook’s failure to abide by data protection laws.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson of Facebook said that investigation by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office into the issues did not find any proof that any UK or European Union users’ data was transferred by the This Is Your Digital Life app developer Aleksandr Kogan to Cambridge Analytica.