Although it’s a lawsuit against Facebook about speech, there are significant implications for privacy complaints in a precedential case to be decided today in France. The Local (France) reports:
The case was brought by a Frenchman who was incensed that his pic of a famous nude oil painting was taken offline by Facebook.
Everything kicked off when a French father-of-three posted a picture of L’Origine du Monde (Origin of the World), an 1866 painting by Gustave Courbet that hangs in the Musée D’Orsay in Paris, to his Facebook account.
The painting, which shows a close up of the female genitalia, was flagged as “too offensive” for Facebook and was removed, with the user subsequently blocked.
So the man sued in a Parisian court. But Facebook had closed its French office in 2012, and Facebook’s lawyer notes that users agree to Terms & Conditions stating that cases can only be brought in California courts.
Will the Parisian court say that Facebook has to answer to French citizens in French courts? We’ll find out later, I guess.
Read more on The Local.