Judge rejects class action status in Facebook privacy case

A federal judge told Facebook users on Friday that they could not sue the company as a group over alleged privacy violations.

“Because the court finds that individualized questions will predominate with respect to Facebook’s alleged breach and misrepresentation, the court denies plaintiffs’ motion for class certification,” wrote Judge Ronald M. Whyte of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

{mosads}The case, filed in 2010, concerns Facebook’s use of consumer data in its advertising operation. The plaintiffs in the case argued that Facebook inappropriately sent its data to marketers when they clicked on ads. Bloomberg was the first to report on the ruling.

Facebook, which has made its business off of leveraging customer data for ad targeting, is a frequent target of privacy criticism.

A class action lawsuit filed earlier in the year alleges that the company might have inappropriately scanned private messages. It’s also in court over its use of facial recognition software in its photo tagging system.

The company also announced last week that its messaging subsidiary, WhatsApp, would start sharing some user data with the parent company, sparking an outcry and trigger a complaint from privacy groups. The complaint, filed with the Federal Trade Commission, alleges that WhatsApp is breaking promises to users by instituting the information sharing regime, which users can opt out of.

WhatsApp says it is in compliance with all the relevant laws.