On Monday, a London tribunal temporarily blocked a collective lawsuit worth up to 3 billion pounds ($3.7 billion) against Facebook, the parent company of the social media giant Meta Platforms Inc. The suit, brought on behalf of about 45 million Facebook users in the UK, alleges that the company abused its dominant position to monetize users’ personal data without properly compensating them.
Legal academic Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, who is bringing the case, sought to certify it under the UK’s collective proceedings regime, similar to the class action regime in the US. However, the Tribunal ruled that her methodology of establishing any losses suffered by Facebook users needed to be re-evaluated for the case to continue. Judge Marcus Smith gave Lovdahl Gormsen’s lawyers six months to file additional evidence to prove their case.
A spokesperson for Meta said the company welcomed the decision and believes the lawsuit is “entirely without merit.” A spokesperson for Lovdahl Gormsen declined to comment.