It's A "Like": Facebook Class Certification Overturned By Appeal Court

Background

In a recent ruling from the British Columbia Court of Appeal ("BCCA"), a class action was de-certified involving a claim by disgruntled Facebook users who allegedly had their images reproduced in Facebook advertising without their consent.

In January 2011, Facebook began making advertising revenue from a product called Sponsored Stories. Facebook took the names and images of Facebook users and featured them in advertisements sent to the users' contacts -allegedly without the knowledge or consent of the person featured in the ad.

The representative Plaintiff claimed that Facebook acted contrary to section 3(2) of B.C.'s Privacy Act¹ which provides that it is an actionable tort for a person to use the name or portrait of another person without their consent for advertising or promotional purposes. In considering whether to grant the class certification, the British Columbia Supreme Court ("BCSC") was first required to consider whether it should assume