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Court Allows Class Action Against Meta Over Facebook Data Breach

By  |  April 14, 2026

A court in Milan has approved a class action lawsuit filed by a consumer advocacy group against Meta Platforms, following a large-scale data scraping incident that affected Facebook users in Italy and around the world.

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    The case centers on a breach involving personal data from Facebook Italy users, with the court confirming that the incident occurred between January 2018 and September 2019. The breach was later disclosed by Meta in 2021. According to Reuters, the scraping operation exposed information belonging to approximately 533 million Facebook users globally.

    The lawsuit was brought by the CTCU consumer association, which is seeking compensation for individuals who either lost control of their personal data or feared such a loss. The claim argues that the incident represents a violation of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Per Reuters, the scale of the breach in Italy alone could be significant, with a legal source estimating that around 35 million Facebook users in the country may have been affected.

    Read more: Meta Ramps Up AI Spending with New $21 Billion Cloud Agreement

    The Milan court’s decision allows the case to proceed, marking a procedural step forward for the plaintiffs. However, the ruling does not determine whether Meta violated any laws. According to Reuters, the action focuses on damages related to the alleged misuse and exposure of personal information.

    Meta has pushed back against the lawsuit. “We respectfully disagree with the court’s decision, which is a procedural ruling only and makes no finding that Meta violated any law,” a company spokesperson said. “We are confident this meritless action will ultimately be dismissed,” the spokesperson added.

    Source: Reuters