Israeli Court: Privacy Class Action Against Facebook May Proceed

The District Court for the Central District of Israel denied a Facebook motion to dismiss a 400 million dollars class action, on grounds of improper venue, lack of jurisdiction and erroneous application of the Israeli law (CA 46065-09-14 Ben Hamo V. Facebook Inc. et at. Decision delivered on June 10, 2016).

The decision extends the reach of Israeli courts and Israeli law to free online services.

Petitioner – Ohad Ben Hamo, claimed that Facebook monitored users' private messages, read their contents and misused them without receiving informed consent and without providing users with adequate notices, as required under the Protection of Privacy Act, 1981 (PPA). The petitioner further claimed that Facebook failed to register their data base with the Data Bases Registrar, as required under the PPA. Both causes of action constitute civil torts and criminal offences.