Federal Court of Appeal sides with privacy watchdog in long-running Facebook case

CITYnews halifax / By The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — A panel of judges says Facebook broke federal privacy law by failing to adequately inform users of the risks to their data upon signing up to the popular social media platform.

In a new ruling, the Federal Court of Appeal says Facebook, now known as Meta, did not obtain the meaningful consent required by the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act between 2013 and 2015.

The decision overturns a 2023 Federal Court ruling.

In the latest decision, the Court of Appeal says Facebook invited millions of apps onto its platform and did not adequately supervise them.

It found that the Federal Court’s failure to engage with the relevant evidence on this point was an error of law.

In a statement, privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne calls the decision an acknowledgment that international firms whose business models rely on users’ data must respect Canadian privacy law.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.

The Canadian Press