In a dramatic courtroom showdown, Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, defended itself against a staggering £2.3 billion ($2.9 billion) class action lawsuit on Monday. The lawsuit, centered around allegations of Meta’s excessive profits from users’ data, took a thrilling turn as legal representatives engaged in a heated exchange before the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London.
Meta £2.3B Antitrust Claim: Alleged Losses Deemed “Fundamentally Flawed”
Tony Singla KC, a formidable representative of Meta from Brick Court Chambers, passionately argued that the proposed collective action should be outrightly dismissed. Singla contended that the method employed by the class representative to establish losses suffered by Facebook users lacks a solid factual foundation. The courtroom echoed with the intensity of legal arguments as Singla asserted that the alleged losses were “fundamentally flawed.”
This legal saga marks the second attempt by Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, an antitrust academic and lawyer, to certify a case under the collective actions regime. The lawsuit accuses the social media giant of abusing its dominant position to profit from users’ personal data.
Tribunal Skepticism and Data Valuation Challenges
The tribunal had already expressed skepticism about the case, highlighting the challenge of quantifying the value of data. Analogously, the tribunal suggested that consumers valued data differently, adding a layer of perplexity to the proceedings. The economic expert’s model presented by consumers was criticized for potentially conflating Meta’s excess profits from advertising with losses suffered by users.
