Facebook parent company Meta has held off a UK lawsuit, which was filed against it over alleged abuse of market dominance in the monetisation of user data.
Meta has faced a number of data lawsuits across multiple international territories, having already been slapped with a £346m fine by the Irish data regulator less than a month after paying a £600m settlement in the US.
Meta has, however, been spared additional punishment for now as the UK tribunal managing the case has given the claimants as much as six months to re-evaluate their case to prove losses suffered due to the social media giant.
The tribunal ruled on Monday that the case, brought on by Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, did not adequately prove harm, and her legal team would need to “file additional evidence setting out a new and better blueprint leading to an effective trial”.
The case against the company is on behalf of 45 million Facebook users based in the UK.
The claim covers alleged data abuse in the UK from Meta over a three-year period (2016-2019). While the consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica has not been directly mentioned in the case, given the relevant time period, it is possible that the scandal would be taken into account.