Class action lawsuits are gearing up after Facebook acknowledges call and text data collection

Earlier this week, it was discovered that Facebook was siphoning smartphone data outside of its applications, logging Android users’ calls and text messages. Three affected users have now stepped forward, attempting to construct a class action lawsuit against the company for violating their privacy.

The suit was filed in a federal court based in Northern District of California, just days after Facebook came under fire for the Cambridge Analytica debacle. Although just three users are involved, they seek to represent all that have been affected, asking for as-of-yet an unspecified amount of damages.

Facebook acknowledged the data collection on Sunday, calling it an opt-in feature, meaning that users always had the opportunity not to participate. The problem arose from it being the default for any user running Android 4.0 Jelly Bean or prior, with criticism falling on the company for not being as upfront and it could have been about the intrusive practice.

The social media platform has gone on to try and reassure its users that the collected data is not sold to third-parties and is kept safe and secure on its servers. This, however, begs the question of why it needs and keeps the data in the first place.

Alphabet, the owner of Google and its Android branding has not been called forward in the suit as of yet, but will potentially be asked to cooperate in the pending case.

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KitGuru Says: It’s uncertain how seriously this case will be taken, because on one hand we have a group of people who clearly haven’t read the terms and conditions in full before opting into something and on the other, we have an overwhelmingly powerful platform with a responsibility to be better than this. It will be interesting to see how the courts see it.

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