Collective lawsuit against Meta over 2021 Facebook data leak opens in Hamburg

On Friday, a collective legal action (Sammelklage) against Meta, the parent company of Facebook, began in Hamburg. The suit follows a major 2021 data leak that exposed personal information of millions of users.

Who is bringing the case?

The Federation of German Consumer Organisations (vzbv) is representing affected users and is seeking damages of up to €600 per person, depending on the sensitivity of data exposed. vzbv has opened a process for consumers to join the collective action.

Background

In 2021, a data scraping incident put personal details — such as names, phone numbers and email addresses — of millions of Facebook users into the public domain. German courts have previously recognized “loss of control” over personal data as non-material damage, with the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) indicating €100 as a baseline in some rulings; consumer groups argue higher payouts are warranted for more sensitive exposures.

What this means

• Millions could be eligible to join the claim.
• Compensation amounts may vary by case and data sensitivity.
• Successful claims could influence future data-protection damages in Germany and beyond.

How to find out more / join

For more information and to see whether you can join the collective action, visit the vzbv page: vzbv — Facebook data leak collective action.

If you were affected by the 2021 leak, consider whether you want to join the suit. What do you think: is €600 fair compensation?

Reported developments are based on recent legal filings and consumer-group announcements; this post excludes links to RSS/news-feed sources.