The claimants of a £3 billion lawsuit against Facebook owner Meta have been given “another go” at establishing any alleged losses.

The case, brought by Dr. Liza Lovdahl Gormsen – director of the Competition Law Forum and senior research fellow in Competition Law, British Institute of International and Comparative Law – claims that 45 million Facebook users in the UK have not been properly compensated for the value of the personal data they had to provide to use the platform.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal was asked to certify the case under the collective proceedings regime, however it has this week ruled that more evidence was required. Judge Marcus Smith ruled that Lovdahl Gormsen’s methodology required "root-and-branch re-evaluation" to establish that Meta had abused its position to monetise its users’ personal data.

Lovdahl Gormsen’s lawyers have been given an additional six months to "file additional evidence setting out a new and better blueprint leading to an effective trial".

Meta, which has previously said that the suit is “entirely without merit”, welcomed the decision.

The Facebook and Instagram operator has faced increased scrutiny over its data practices in recent years. In late December 2022 the company agreed to pay $725 million to settle a class action lawsuit which claimed that Meta gave third parties access to user data without their consent – fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Keller Rohrback L.L.P, the firm representing the claimants, described the case as the “largest recovery ever achieved in a data privacy class action and the most Facebook has ever paid to resolve a private class action”.

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