German-Austrian attack on Meta's business model

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Facebook should compensate a German user with 5,000 euros because it monitored him on the Internet outside of Facebook, says the Leipzig Regional Court. But why only one user, when ultimately everyone is being evaluated? In line with this idea, a Berlin law firm with support from Austria is taking legal action against Facebook operator Meta Platforms. In addition, legal proceedings are underway in Austria, where they are also being conducted on behalf of Austrian non-Facebook users whose data was analysed.

The project was presented on Thursday morning in Vienna by the Austrian Consumer Protection Association (VSV). The lawsuits are an attack on a key pillar of Meta Platforms' business model: the meta-business tools that are built into thousands and thousands of websites and apps. These meta services support operators of websites, apps and online advertising "in integrating their apps and websites and sharing their data with Meta", as Meta puts it.

Using invisible "meta pixels", among other things, meta business tools collect personal data about all internet users and use this to create a profile for each meta user. Anyone who does not have a meta account receives a so-called shadow profile, whether they want it or not. "Instagram knows your sexual preferences, Facebook knows about your alcohol problem," summarizes the VSV, "every click, every search, every purchase on the Internet can be read by the meta group."

In the absence of the consent of those affected, Meta is massively violating European data protection and, as a result, is making billions in profits with personalized advertising, the Leipzig Regional Court ruled in July (case no. 05 O 2351/23, not final). An average Facebook user would be entitled to 5,000 euros in damages for this, and Meta would also have to provide information about the previous data collection and refrain from doing so in future. Meta, however, believes it is in the right and is appealing.

Thousands of lawsuits, across all German regional courts

In fact, lawsuits against the Meta business tools are already pending at all 120 regional courts in Germany. The Berlin law firm BK Baumeister & Kollegen represents around 7,000 plaintiffs with legal protection insurance and also obtained the Leipzig ruling. The first such lawsuit was filed in October 2023; around 2,000 cases have been decided at first instance to date, none of them legally binding.

German courts initially ruled predominantly in favour of Meta, but the data protection arguments are gradually gaining ground with German judges. "In the last two months, it's been about 50/50," Max Baumeister told heise online. In total, around 700 of the approximately 2,000 first-instance rulings have gone in favour of his clients.

The legal justifications are not always the same, the damages awarded vary by a factor of 100, ranging from 100 euros to 10,000 euros. Around 100 of the 700 successful verdicts were four-figure awards. The Leipzig decision in particular caused a public stir with a damages award of 5,000 euros. In the meantime, other German law firms have jumped on the bandwagon.

Meta and Baumeister have appealed against practically every judgment they have lost. The first dates of the second instance are scheduled for November, and the first appeal decisions are likely to be issued in March 2026. In addition to the approximately 7,000 lawsuits filed, Baumeister has around twice as many Germans on file who have registered with him to file a lawsuit against Meta. This is where the fact that the German legal system does not recognize class actions takes its toll.

New: Class action lawsuit

However, in October 2023, Germany implemented the EU Directive on representative actions. It provides for the so-called redress action, with which consumer associations can assert similar claims by consumers against a company. And in the Austrian VSV, Baumeister has gained such a consumer association as a partner for the legal attack on Meta's monitoring. The only thing missing was someone to pay for the whole thing, and there is someone in Austria: the litigation financier Padronus. If successful, it receives 9.5 percent of the compensation paid out, with the remainder going to the registered consumers.

On behalf of VSV, Baumeister has now sued Meta Platforms on behalf of all German Facebook or Instagram users (as of 2018) before the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in Hamburg, because Meta has its German branch there. They are demanding comprehensive information about the data collection, deletion of the data and damages: 5,000 euros for adults, 10,000 euros for those who were affected as minors at some point (2018 or later).

"We are bringing this collective action because we don't think it's good for the cause if we cover the courts with 100,000 lawsuits," said Baumeister. "It's about the surveillance of private life. With the business tools, Meta is recording what people are doing on the Internet." The disadvantage of the redress action is that the courts do not hear individuals and therefore do not take into account particular individual fates. Damages can therefore only be awarded on an average scale, possibly differentiated according to case groups.

Germans must register, advice free of charge

However, in Germany (unlike many other countries) this is not automatic: