Facebook is being sued by some 25,000 users in a class action lawsuit in Vienna beginning today over alleged privacy violations.
The claim, led by Austrian data protection campaigner Max Schrems alleges that Facebook tracks users’ data in a way that is illegal under EU law.
It has been brought against Facebook’s European headquarters in Dublin, which registers all accounts outside the US and Canada.
Facebook has not commented on the case.
Among them are more than 1,000 people from the UK and Ireland.
Germany, regarded as one of Europe’s more privacy-conscious countries, has the highest number of people backing the case with more than 5,000 users.
The legal action also claims privacy laws are breached in the way the networking giant monitors users when they use the site’s “like” buttons. Mr Schrems, a law graduate, wants to stop what he calls mass surveillance by the social networking site.
Mr Schrems is seeking compensation of around £360 per user.
