An Austrian law student cannot bring a class action suit against Facebook's Irish unit over alleged privacy violations in an Austrian court, an EU court adviser said on Tuesday but can sue the company in his home country on his own behalf. Arguing Facebook violated privacy rules, Max Schrems is claiming 500 euros ($576) in damages for each of some 25,000 signatories to his lawsuit, one of a series of European challenges to U.S. technology firms and their handling of personal data.
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"A consumer who is entitled to sue his foreign contact partner in his own place of domicile, cannot invoke, at the same time as his own claims, claims on the same subject assigned by other consumers," the EU top court's Advocate General Michal Bobek said. The advocate general, whose opinions are not binding but usually followed by the court, said allowing a class action suit, in this case, would lead consumers to choose the place of the most favourable court.
Privacy activist Schrems had argued that individual lawsuits on user privacy would be "impossible" due to the financial burden on users. While common in the United States, class action suits are rarely recognised in Europe. "It is not for the Court to create such collective redress in consumer matters, but eventually for the Union legislator," the Advocate General said.
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