Justice denies compensation claims to Facebook users – 08/11/2023 – Market

A state court in Minas Gerais denied claims for compensation to Facebook users made after the social network was ordered to pay BRL 20 million in collective moral damages for leaking internet user data.

Based on the decision, users tried to receive R$ 5,000 in compensation for individual moral damages, as also provided for in the conviction.

Both the decision to condemn Facebook and to deny the internet users’ request were taken by Judge José Maurício de Cantarino Vilela, of the 29th Civil Court of Belo Horizonte, of the Lafayette Forum, the first instance of Justice in the capital.

When contacted, the company said that “it has not yet been formally notified of the decision”. According to the forum, more than 30 claims for damages were filed claiming the R$5,000.

The judge’s justification for denying compensation was that the conviction occurred in class actions, to which the requests for reparation were attached. “There is a need for a new process to be formed, completely independent of the records in which the collective action was processed”, wrote Cantarino.

The judge, according to information passed on by the forum’s advisory, highlighted that the process has a deadline for possible appeal of the sentence and recommended to the possible harmed users to wait, since there may be modifications.

“We also recommend that the submission of qualification requests in the records cease, as these procedural documents, in addition to causing turmoil and making the procedural process difficult, are innocuous to achieve the purpose intended by the petitioners”, said the advisory.

Facebook’s condemnation of the payment of BRL 20 million was given on July 24, after the Instituto Defesa Coletiva, based in Belo Horizonte, filed two lawsuits against the social network due to leaks of internet users’ data that occurred in 2018 and 2019 .

Facebook users, regardless of whether or not they are in the group of users who had their data leaked, will be able to sue Justice requesting R$ 5,000 in compensation for established individual moral damages.

This is because the company did not provide, in the action, the list of affected users, leaving open the possibility of compensation to all internet users who prove the use of the social network at the time of the leaks.

As proof that he participated in the social network, the user can, for example, present posts made at the time of the leaks.

The judge’s recommendation in the decision that denied the payment of compensation, taken this Thursday (10), however, is that the requests be made after the final processing of the two collective actions.