REDWOOD CITY - Facebook is the defendant in a class action lawsuit in the San Mateo County Superior Court that accuses the social media platform of violating the California Business and Professions Code, according to February 22 documents.
The class is represented by plaintiff Shari Rosenman, who says the platform's terms of service agreements have become more harmful to consumers as the company grew to acquire other platforms such as Instagram and WhatsApp.
Rosenman says that Facebook has been deceiving its users about the security of their data and private information for years. Following the 2018 Cambridge Analytica data breach scandal, consumers then began to realize that their data was in fact harvested and used.
The lawsuit outlines an extensive history of the social media platform allegedly promising and then rescinding measures and policies with customer privacy in mind, including offering voting power on new policy to consumers but then vetoing the public's vote anyway.
The suit alleges that Facebook "preserves user privacy when it fears competition and degrades privacy when it does not."
Rosenman requests the court order Facebook to pay any money wrongfully received as a result of their allegedly harmful terms of use, as well as additional judgements deemed fit.
The class is represented by Pomerantz LLP.