(Reuters) Meta’s social media giant Facebook is targeted in a class-action lawsuit in the UK over market dominance that could lead to a fine of up to 2.3 billion pounds or $3.2 billion.
Facebook is accused of unfair terms and conditions that forced users to provide valuable personal data on the platform.
Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority’s senior adviser Liza Lovdahl, who leads the lawsuit, says Facebook exploited the personal data of about 44 million users. The said market dominance occurred between 2015 and 2019.
Lovdahl says Facebook mined data through methods such as Facebook Pixel, allowing the company to develop deep data profiles of individuals.
The social media giant has denied the claims, saying that people used its services since they offered value to them, and the company has no control over the information they share on the network.
The class-action suit is a blow to Facebook, which recently lost an attempt to block an antitrust lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission over its market power.
FB: NASDAQ is down -0.67%.
