Facebook is facing a new class action lawsuit for scanning user’s messages to improve its targeted ads. The company has tried to get the case dismissed. The lawsuit dates back to 2013, and alleges that Facebook scanned private chats for links to websites and equated them with public likes.
The company says it ended this practice in 2012, and now only scans private chats for spam and viruses. Facebook’s lawyers also argued that its actions were protected under the Federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act. Regardless, the world’s largest social network is heading to court, though it’s unclear when the trial will begin.
From the Los Angeles Times:
Judge [Phyllis] Hamilton denied Facebook’s bid to dismiss the lawsuit, which was filed by Facebook users Matthew Campbell and Michael Hurley in 2013. The suit alleges that until October 2012, when the social network says it stopped the practice, it scanned the content of private messages sent between users for links to websites, which were then used for delivering targeted advertising. The complaint alleges that this violated the federal and state privacy laws by “reading its users’ personal [and] private Facebook messages without their consent.”
Facebook had argued that the practice was covered by an exception under the federal Electronics Communications Privacy Act, and that it disclosed to users that it “may use the information we received about you” for “data analysis.” But Judge Hamilton said the company had “not offered a sufficient explanation of how the challenged practice falls within the ordinary court of business,” and that the disclosure was not specific enough to establish that users expressly consented to the scanning of the content of their messages.
Source: Reuter
