BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A German consumer body can sue Facebook for privacy violations, an adviser to Europe’s top court said on Thursday in a case about online gamers’ personal data.
“The Member States may allow consumer protection associations to bring representative actions against infringements of the protection of personal data,” Advocate General Richard de la Tour at the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) said in an opinion.
Facebook found itself in the dock after the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (vzbv) filed a lawsuit alleging that the social network had allowed operators of online games to improperly collect the personal data of gamers.
A German court subsequently sought advice from the CJEU.
The case is C-319/20 Facebook Ireland.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee)
