Meta Loses Bid to Appeal UK Class Action Over Data, Could be Liable for up to $3.2B

Meta Platforms Inc. failed in a bid to challenge a class action suit in the UK that alleged Facebook abused its dominant position and exploited its users personal data.

The UK’s Court of Appeal refused to permit Meta and Facebook’s UK unit to challenge a competition appeals court which had greenlit a revised version of the lawsuit. The court rejected Meta’s appeal at a hearing on October 7, but only published the detailed ruling on Friday.

“It is the judgment of this court that there is no basis upon which permission to appeal should be granted,” read the ruling.

The case at a London competition tribunal was filed on behalf of 44 million British Facebook users, who alleged the social network only gave access to its platform in exchange for user data that generated billions in revenue, according to competition expert Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, who brought the collective claim.

The claimants calculated that Facebook could be liable for at least 2.3 billion pounds ($3.2 billion) in damages.

An email to Meta’s spokespeople seeking comment wasn’t immediately answered.

Top photo: A Meta store in Burlingame, California, US, on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. Meta Platforms Inc. is scheduled to release earnings figures on October 30. Photographer David Paul Morris/Bloomberg Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg.