Facebook Sued For Collecting Call, Text Information

Earlier this year, it was revealed that Facebook scraped Android users’ call and text logs without notifying them. Now, the social media giant is facing a class action lawsuit for this practice, which the plaintiff says presents several wrongs, including a consumer bait-and-switch, an invasion of privacy, wrongful monitoring of minors, and potential attacks on privileged communications.”

Facebook was able to collect this information when, through the Messenger app, users opted in to the ability to send text messages from the app, and when they agreed to let Facebook access their contact info.

“The terms of service and privacy notice materials do not inform (and in the past have not informed) the ordinary and reasonably attentive Facebook user that installing the application on a mobile device will result in the logging of all the user’s phone and text communications,” the complaint reads.

The plaintiff behind the case, John Condelles III, is seeking $5 million in damages and, most importantly for users, the ability to turn the case into a class action across the United States. That means any Facebook Android user could jump on to the litigation. We’re a long way from that happening, but on the surface, this case looks promising — and like it could cause a major headache for Facebook.