Dutch foundation claims billions from Facebook for privacy violations

This article was published on October 25th, 2023 on RTLnieuws.nl

The Dutch Market Information Research Foundation (SOMI) is starting a claim case against Facebook parent company Meta Platforms due to privacy violations on the social media platform. The foundation, which previously started a case against TikTok, says it is claiming 10.5 billion euros for all Dutch Facebook users and is calling on people to register for a procedure.

This is an issue for which Facebook was fined 265 million euros last year by the Irish privacy watchdog DPC. A few years ago, the data of more than half a billion Facebook users around the world was leaked to hackers, who then stole it and even offered phone numbers for sale.

According to SOMI, Meta 'has violated privacy legislation on a large scale by giving unauthorized persons access to the personal data of Facebook users'. More than 5 million people in the Netherlands are said to have been affected by the leak. The foundation also accuses Meta of poorly handling user data for years.

According to SOMI, every Dutch user should therefore receive 500 euros in compensation. The foundation believes that compensation should be 1,000 euros for every Dutch user who was affected by the data breach in April 2021.

A spokesperson for Meta in the Netherlands could not be reached for comment. The US headquarters has not yet responded to a request for comment.

TikTok

The case against the popular app TikTok revolves around the collection of children's data so that they see targeted advertisements without properly requesting permission. Parents believe that the app does not properly protect the safety and privacy of their offspring and, according to an earlier statement from SOMI, want a total of around 1.4 billion euros in compensation.

The substantive case against TikTok has yet to be heard by a judge. According to SOMI, this will probably happen next year. 

Read the full article (in Dutch): https://www.rtlnieuws.nl/economie/tech-business/artikel/5415120/facebook-meta-privacy-tiktok-gebruikers