by A court in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, determined that the social network Facebook used “illegally” for almost a decade data from accounts in the Netherlands, without the consent of their owners, for advertising purposes.
According to the court ruling, Facebook Ireland – the custodian of the personal data of Dutch users – not only used the data for advertising, but also transmitted them to third parties without duly informing the interested parties or having legal reasons to do so.
“Facebook Ireland broke the law by processing personal data of Dutch Facebook users in the period from April 1, 2010 to January 1, 2020″, say the judges in a statement. , they specified.
However, the judges rejected a third lawsuit that alleged that the use of online “cookies” -digital trackers used to target advertising- was illegal on third-party sites, as the responsibility for informing users was transferred by Facebook Ireland to the relevant website operators.
The ruling follows a class action lawsuit filed in 2019 by the data privacy foundation, an internet watchdog that claims to fight for the rights of users online.
The foundation’s president, Dick Buma, said the ruling cleared the way for consumers to receive “compensation for years of privacy violations by Facebook.”
In a statement to AFP, Meta -owner of Facebook- stressed that she was “satisfied that the court ruled in her favor for multiple of these historic claims, some of which took place more than a decade ago.”
“We intend to appeal other aspects of this case,” iindicates the statement.
The Dutch court ruling came after Meta was fined 390 million $ ($410 million) in early January. for breaching EU law on personal data on Facebook and Instagram.
Hard accusation against Mark Zuckerberg, according to judicial file
The negative effects of social networks on minors were fully known to the employees of Meta and ByteDacnce, including their owners, according to a court file.
This is clear from a lawsuit that had been filed for the addiction of children and adolescents to social networks and whose text was previously partially known.
Now, according to information from the Bloomberg agency, an unedited version of the lawsuit filed in federal court in Oakland, California, detailed aspects related to the knowledge that engineers and other officials, including CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, could have. about the damage of social networks and their doubts about it.
It is a process that contains various complaints that were filed in the United States on behalf of adolescents and young adults.
According to the complaint, social networks such as Google’s Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube they generated different disorders such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders and insomnia.
Even, according to the lawsuit, due to these situations, more than a dozen suicides occurred, after arguing that the operators of these companies designed algorithms that lured children into dangerous and addictive paths.
To these same considerations were added several public school districts that have also filed lawsuits on the grounds that Social networks affect the mental crisis of students, which makes the educational process difficult.
According to the lawsuit, company officials “disregarded the information or, in some cases, tried to undermine it.”
Goal
Among the allegations, the plaintiffs warned that instead of acting to address issues related to children using Instagram and Facebook, the company Meta defunded its mental health team.
They noted that Meta director Mark Zuckerberg himself was warned about the implications of a risky situation.
“We are not on track to succeed on our core wellness themes (problem use, bullying and harassment, connections and SSI), and we are at increased regulatory risk and external criticism. These affect everyone, especially young people and creators; if left unaddressed, they will follow us into the metaverse.”According to the document.
However, a company spokesperson dismissed the allegation, noting that it would instead increase funding for the mental health team.
“In fact, because this is so important to our company, we actually increased funding, as evidenced by the 30+ tools we offer to support teens and families. Today, there are hundreds of employees working across the company to create features for this purpose.” Indian.
*With information from AFP
