There has been a new development in the lawsuit filed against Facebook regarding the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which the personal data of millions of people in Australia were collected without their consent. A federal court dismissed the company’s claim that it did not do business in the country or collect personal information. Here are the details…
The court did not accept Facebook’s claim
The court’s view was that Facebook was doing business in the country because it installed cookies on Australian users’ devices. Because, according to the judge, this was an essential part of the operation of his platform. It is also stated that any website accessible in Australia means doing business in the country.
According to Facebook, a cookie is set where it is sent, not where it is placed. Therefore, given that their servers are not located in Australia, the company does not officially do business there. In addition, the company explained that data centers transmit digital signals to user devices, resulting in a change in the digital state of these devices.
In addition, the company gave an example to explain the operation. If a person from abroad sends a letter to Australia and subsequently the recipient of the letter decides to take an action with economic impact, this can never be interpreted as the sender doing business in Australia.
But the court takes a strict stance on this issue. In the statement made on the subject, it is said:
Facebook concludes that computer-based activity in one jurisdiction cannot produce more than an impact on computers in another jurisdiction. It offers too much evidence to justify this view.
In fact, the lawsuit against Facebook stemmed from the breach of privacy of many Australian Facebook users in the Cambridge Analytica scandal that occurred more than four years ago. This consulting firm used a personality test app called This is Your Digital Life to access the personal data of millions of users without their consent.
Although the application in question was installed by only 53 people in Australia, Cambridge Analytica was able to collect the data of approximately 311 thousand 74 people in the country through these 53 people. He then used this data for political ads like Brexit and Donald Trump.
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