Austrian court rejects Facebook privacy lawsuit
A court in Austria has rejected a class-action lawsuit against Facebook alleging invasion of privacy, saying it lacks jurisdiction in the case.
The suit was brought by Austrian law student Max Schrems on behalf of 25,000 Facebook users who claimed the social network is illegally tracking their data, including by providing them to US intelligence agencies.
Vienna regional court spokeswoman Beatrix Engelmann said the court concluded Mr Schrems did not have the automatic right to bring the case in his home country as he was acting more as an organisation because of the website he ran than a consumer.
The court did not say where he might have the right to bring the case, and did not rule on the substance of the complaint.
Mr Schrems says he plans to appeal the decision.
