LONDON, Feb 20 (Portal) – Facebook temporarily suspended a class action lawsuit valued at up to £3 billion on Monday.
However, a London court gave the proposed plaintiffs’ lawyers up to six months to “make another attempt” to establish alleged losses by users.
Meta Platforms Inc (META.O), the parent company of the Facebook group, is facing a class action lawsuit being brought on behalf of around 45 million Facebook users in the UK.
Legal scholar Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, who is bringing the case, says Facebook users were not adequately compensated for the value of the personal data they had to provide to use the platform.
Her lawyers last month petitioned the Competition Appeal Tribunal to have the case certified under the UK class action system – which is roughly the same as the class action system in the United States.
But the tribunal ruled Monday that Lovdahl Gormsen’s method of determining losses suffered by Facebook users requires a “fundamental reassessment” for the case to proceed.
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However, Judge Marcus Smith gave Lovdahl Gormsen’s attorneys six months to “submit additional evidence that sets forth a new and better draft of an effective trial.”
A spokesman for Meta said the company welcomes the decision, citing its previous statement that the lawsuit was “completely unfounded.”
A spokesman for Lovdahl Gormsen declined to comment.
Reporting by Sam Tobin Editing by Tomasz Janowski
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