US lawsuit claims that Facebook "misleads users into believing they have a secure, private mechanism for communication"
It comes less than a month a US court ruled that investors could pursue claims against Facebook over its IPO Photo: Reuters
Facebook is being sued over claims it mines users’ private messages to
advertisers without their consent.
According to a complaint filed in California, the social network “misleads
users into believing they have a secure, private mechanism for
communication, when in fact Facebook... mines user data and profits from
those data by sharing them with third parties”.
The lawsuit, brought by Facebook users Matthew Campbell and Michael Hurley,
who are seeking class action status, stems from claims in 2012 that the
website scans private messages for information that is used to work out how
many “likes” a page has. At the time Facebook said “no private information
has been exposed”.
On the latest lawsuit, a Facebook spokesman said: "We believe the
allegations are without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously."
It comes less than a month a US court ruled that investors could pursue claims
against the social network over its $16bn IPO in 2012.
A group of shareholders left out of pocket by the initial public offering in
May last year, have spent the past year arguing that Facebook and its
bankers left material information out of the “S-1” document it filed ahead
of its market debut.
In particular, they claim that Facebook should have published more information about the impact growing mobile usage was likely to have on revenues at the social network, including internal forecasts which the company passed on to the banks underwriting its IPO.
Facebook and the banks involved in the legal row claim that the information was immaterial, and that it was under no obligation to make such disclosures.
However, Robert Sweet, US District Judge in Manhattan, sided with the investors, clearing the way for them to lodge a slew of claims against Facebook and dozens of banks, including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.
In particular, they claim that Facebook should have published more information about the impact growing mobile usage was likely to have on revenues at the social network, including internal forecasts which the company passed on to the banks underwriting its IPO.
Facebook and the banks involved in the legal row claim that the information was immaterial, and that it was under no obligation to make such disclosures.
However, Robert Sweet, US District Judge in Manhattan, sided with the investors, clearing the way for them to lodge a slew of claims against Facebook and dozens of banks, including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.
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