Facebook Hit with New Class Action Over Cambridge Analytica Data Mining

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Facebook was hit with another class action lawsuit over an alleged data mining scheme that sent personal information to third party firm, Cambridge Analytica.

Lead plaintiffs claim in their class action lawsuit that Facebook violated its users’ privacy when it allowed a Trump-linked data firm to misappropriate their Facebook information without consent.

The plaintiffs say that up to 87 million users may have been affected by the data scraping scheme.

“Facebook, which had previously agreed to a 2011 FTC Consent Order to better protect user privacy and prevent third parties from misappropriating personal information, has admitted its neglect in ads, in interviews, and before the U.S. Congress,” states the Facebook data mining class action lawsuit.

According to the Facebook class action lawsuit, Cambridge Analytica used the data to create voter profiles of the users to sell to campaigns during the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.

“Cambridge Analytica paid developers millions to get the Facebook data and has made millions of dollars off the Facebook personal information it misappropriated,” allege the plaintiffs.

In March of this year, several major newspapers reported that Cambridge Analytica had accessed the data by using an app on Facebook called “My Digital Life.” The app was described to users as a way for psychologists to do research. However, the reports said that beyond misrepresenting the purpose of the app, the app scraped information not only from those who used the app, but their friends as well.

The plaintiffs point out that although other lawsuits have been filed against Facebook over the alleged data mining scheme, the company just recently notified affected users.

“On April 11, 2018, Facebook provided users a link to identify which Facebook users had their data scraped by Cambridge Analytica without their consent,” alleges the Facebook data mining class action lawsuit.

The plaintiffs say that before the notice, users could only guess that their information had been misappropriated. Now, however, “Facebook has confirmed that all of the named Plaintiffs herein 1) did not log into ‘This is Your Digital Life’; 2) that a Facebook friend of theirs did log on to that app; 3) that their Facebook personal information was accessed. Moreover, all of the Plaintiffs herein set privacy settings to ‘Friends’, and did not permit public access to all of their Facebook profiles,” states the Facebook class action.

According to the class action lawsuit, millions joined the social networking site under the impression that they could connect with friends and relatives, as well as set privacy settings to their liking. Facebook has monetized the information provided by its users, allege the plaintiffs, by selling data to third parties for advertising purposes.

“Facebook’s allowance of third-parties to run targeted ads is the economic engine of the free platform. In 2017, Facebook generated $39.94 billion ad revenues, constituting 98 percent of its revenue,” states the Facebook data mining class action.

The Facebook class action lawsuit points out that Facebook’s privacy settings retained third party advertisers and Facebook even got into trouble with the Federal Trade Commissions in 2012, when it settled allegations regarding privacy settings with the agency.

However, the Facebook privacy class action lawsuit alleges that Facebook allowed Cambridge Analytica to misuse user data again in 2015 and 2016. The plaintiffs call Facebook’s attempts to regulate the data company’s activities flaccid. Additionally, Facebook faces another Federal Trade Commission investigation after the alleged data mining scheme was revealed, say the plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs are represented by Charles Reichmann of the Law Offices of Charles Reichmann, and Andrew N. Friedman, Douglas J. McNamara, and Sally M. Handmaker of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC.

This Facebook Data Mining Class Action Lawsuit is Burk, et al. v. Facebook Inc. and Cambridge Analytica LLC, Case No. 3:18-cv-02504, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division.