Facebook Private Message Class Action Objections Tossed

An objection claiming that the Facebook privacy class action provided only “worthless injunctive relief” was rejected by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Under the terms of the class action settlement, Facebook agreed to stop using information in private messages for targeted advertising, but offered no monetary payment for dropping the claims that the social media giant accessed this information from users without notification or permission.

The company also agreed to post a disclaimer about the collection of information to users. A Class Member objected to the finalized agreement, arguing that this offer was not enough.

The Class Member also objected to the attorneys’ fees, stating the $3.89 million under the terms of the settlement is excessive.

The Facebook privacy class action lawsuit was originally filed in 2013 by Matthew Campbell and Michael Burley. The plaintiffs, both Facebook users, claimed that they and others had been misled by the social media giant regarding its privacy policy concerning the use of personal message functions.

The complaint claimed that Class Members were unaware that Facebook would mine the messages for personal information. This data would then be used to target advertising to them.

According to the Facebook class action lawsuit, Facebook garnered $2.7 billion from selling this data in 2011 alone.

The parties entered into a settlement agreement in 2017, agreeing to end the class action lawsuit in return for a promise by Facebook to stop using Class Member information from private messages sent through the site for targeted advertising, and to post a disclaimer about the collection of private information.

This class action settlement offered no monetary award for Class Members, but it did not release the company from future monetary claims.

A federal court issued final approval for the settlement in 2017 in the face of Class Member objections. The same Class Member appealed approval of the class action settlement to the Ninth Circuit, which recently sided in favor of the agreement.

In its ruling upholding the Facebook message privacy class action settlement, the Ninth Circuit noted that the lower court had blocked the claims for monetary damages because it found that the harm suffered by each Class Member would not be the same. The Ninth Circuit also noted that the disclosure would be helpful to Facebook users.

“The class did not need to receive much for the settlement to be fair because the class gave up very little,” states the Ninth Circuit ruling. “The numerous challenges that plaintiffs faced provided the parties and the district court ample support to conclude that plaintiffs were ultimately likely to have lost this entire case.”

The appeals court also rejected the objector’s argument that the attorneys’ fees were too high, falling back on the lower court’s discretion when approving the terms of the settlement.

What are your thoughts on the Facebook message privacy class action settlement? Tell us in the comments section below.

The lead plaintiff is represented by Hank Bates, Allen Carney and David Slade of Carney Bates & Pulliam PLLC, Rachel Geman, Nicholas Diamand, Michael W. Sobol, David T. Rudolph and Melissa Gardner of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP.

The Class Member who objected to the settlement was represented by herself and Adam Ezra Schulman and Theodore H. Frank of the Center for Class Action Fairness.

Campbell was represented by Hank Bates, Allen Carney and David Slade of Carney Bates & Pulliam PLLC, Rachel Geman, Nicholas Diamand, Michael W. Sobol, David T. Rudolph and Melissa Gardner of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP.

The Facebook Message Privacy Class Action Lawsuit is Matthew Campbell v. Facebook Inc., Case No. 17-16873, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

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