Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) won a legal battle after a court dismissed users’ allegations it was secretly tracking their activities after logging out of the social network giant’s website.
In their complaint, Users argued that they may have agreed to the installation of internet cookies to track and transit their web browsing, but they did not gave Facebook a consent to monitor their online activities after logging out of the company’s website.
The complainants alleged that Facebook violated the U.S. Wiretap Act by monitoring their online activity while logged out. They also accused the social network giant of improperly using their information to make profits.
Facebook users failed to prove realistic economic harm
Judge Edward J. Davila of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed the lawsuit due to the fact that the complainants failed to stipulate how the company harmed them.
In his ruling, Judge Davila explained that the users failed to “adequately connect” the value of the information collected by Facebook to a “realistic economic harm or loss.”
According to the judge, failed to prove that they “personally lost the opportunity to sell their information of the value of their information was somehow diminished” after Facebook collected it.
In an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg, Facebook spokeswoman Vanessa Chan said, “We are pleased with the court’s ruling.”
Facebook users could revise and refile their lawsuit
The judge took more than three years to hear all the arguments in the case and finally agreed to the argument of Facebook that it should be dismissed. However, the judge said the users could refile most of their claims in a revise lawsuit.
In 2012 hearing, Matthew Brown, a lawyer who represented Facebook argued that the lawsuit suffers from “utter lack of allegations on any injury” to the named complainants.
Facebook users have until November 30 to revise their allegations such as the invasion of privacy and violations of the Wiretap Act. Under the law, every complainant could receive a compensation for damages of up to $100 for a violation per day. The complainants estimated $15 billion for potential damages.
Regulators in Europe and the United States are looking into how Facebook is using the private information of its users. Multiple privacy lawsuits were also filed against the social network giant.
