The lawyer Max Schrems' case against Facebook for alleged privacy violations will go ahead in a court in Vienna, but the activist will not be allowed to form a class action with others, the EU Court of Justice ruled. The final opinion of the EU court largely followed the preliminary view issued by its advocate general last November.
Schrems, who is also a data protection activist and the founder of the NGO noyb, brought legal proceedings in Austria against Facebook Ireland for infringement of certain data protection provisions. Schrems had been assigned claims in those proceedings also by other Facebook users from Austria, Germany and India.
Facebook takes the view that the Austrian courts do not have international jurisdiction. Also, Facebook claims that if Schrems uses a Facebook page for professional purposes, he cannot be regarded as a consumer.
The court rejected Facebook's claim that Schrems could not make use of EU consumer rights to sue in his home country of Austria, when Facebook Europe is based in Ireland. However, only Schrems, and not the some 25,000 other people signed up to his case, could claim that consumer right, as only he was party to the contract with Facebook.
Facebook had argued that Schrems was using the social network as a professional, due to his activities promoting his legal case against the company and privacy rights in general. As such, he could not claim the rights of a mere consumer of Facebook. The court found that Schrems first signed up to Facebook for private use in 2010, and the rights established then as a consumer could not be revoked because of the addition of professional activities on the social network.
With its decision, the EU court replied to questions submitted by the Austrian Supreme Court. The case will now return to the Austrian courts for a full hearing.
