Derek Scally reports:
Vienna District Court has dismissed a class-action civil suit against Facebook, headed by Austrian privacy campaigner Max Schrems, saying it has no jurisdiction.
With seven others, Mr Schrems took action in Vienna against Facebook, arguing its terms of service and data collection policies violate EU law and their consumer rights. Some 25,000 other Facebook users transferred their legal claims to Schrems in the class-action suit seeking €10 million in compensation.
In its ruling, Vienna district court did not deal with the arguments of the case but the issue of jurisdiction, hinging on whether it shared Mr Schrems’s view that he is a consumer of Facebook. Austrian consumer law allows private consumers take legal action in their place of residence.
The court disagreed, saying he used the social media service in both private and professional capacity and had a commercial interest in his numerous legal actions against Facebook.
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