Facebook users are taking the social media site to court alleging the company has sold their private information to third parties.
According to CNN, two users filed a lawsuit claiming their information was sold without "proper disclosure or the consent of users" on Dec. 30. Matthew Campbell and Michael Hurley filed the lawsuit in a California court. The lawyers are seeking to make the suit class action, which would mean 166 million Facebook users could join.
"Campbell and Hurley claim that intercepting and using links included in private messages violates the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, as well as California privacy and unfair competition laws," CNN reports.
According to Ars Techinca, the lawsuit cites Facebook's data use policy, outlining what information they receive as a user navigates their site. By signing up on Facebook, you are agreeing the company can use the data from your searches, clicks and messages. However, the suit argues the company did not make clear the content of private messages is scanned and used.
The plaintiffs in the suit are seeking "more than $100 for each day of violation or $10,000 per class member of the lawsuit, as well as statutory damages of either $5,000 per class member or three times the amount of actual damages, whichever is greater," Ars Techinca reports.
According to CNN, CEO Mark Zuckerberg previously commented about the company's user data use, stating people should not be doing anything they want to keep secret on Facebook.
"Facebook's desire to harness the myriad data points of its users has led to overreach and intrusion ... as it mines its account holders' private communications for monetary gain," the plaintiffs allege in the suit, according to CNN.
What do you think about Facebook scanning private messages and selling the data to third parties? Let us know in the comments section below.
