Following a data theft on Facebook, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) wants to clarify important legal questions in its first leading decision for thousands of pending cases. In April 2021, unknown persons exploited a friend search function on the social network and intercepted data from around 533 million users from 106 countries and publicly distributed it on the Internet. In contrast, there was a hail of claims for damages, most of which have so far been unsuccessful in regional and higher regional courts. However, a clarification by the highest court is still pending.
The Federal Court of Justice has now taken advantage of a new opportunity and designated a case as a leading decision procedure. The sixth civil senate wants to clarify fundamental legal questions – for example, whether the loss of control over the data in question constitutes non-material damage and how this should be measured (case number VI ZR 10/24).
According to a spokeswoman, the Facebook group Meta is convinced that the lawsuits are unfounded. “More than 6,000 lawsuits have now been dismissed by the German courts on the grounds that the plaintiffs have no legitimate claims for liability or damages,” she said before the hearing in Karlsruhe on Monday. The company welcomes the opportunity to present its own arguments there. ( dpa/rs /kk)Explore emtech 360 for the latest advancements in Information Technology & insightful updates from industry experts!
Source: https://www.csoonline.com/article/3602558/schadenersatz-nach-datendiebstahl-bei-facebook.html
