The terms for using the Facebook network stipulate that lawsuits instituted by Facebook customers be heard in the US according to California state law. The Central District Court last week ruled that this condition was designed "to deter the Israeli customer from exercising his legal rights," struck down the condition, and ruled that the way to suing Facebook was open to the Israeli customer. Her ruling was given in striking down a Facebook petition for dismissal of a request for approval of a class action suit filed against the company.
Ohad Ben Hamo, the party requesting approval for a suit, alleges that Facebook is making commercial use of private messages sent by users of the social network to each other, and is thereby violating their privacy without obtaining consent from the customers, as legally required. He is asking for no less than $400 million in compensation for the Israeli customers.
Even before Facebook responded to the request itself, it sought the dismissal of the lawsuit, alleging that by joining the social network, the Israeli users had consented to Facebook's usage terms stipulating that disputes between Facebook and users should be heard in a California court according to California law.
In his response, Ben Hamo argued that this condition constituted a discriminatory condition in a standard form contract, and that the user had consented to the condition without actually being aware of having done so.
Central District Court Judge Esther Stemmer accepted Ben Hamo's arguments, relying among other things on a previous ruling in the case of PayPal.
As in the PayPal case, the judge ruled, "In this case also, an international corporation is involved operating a global social website and providing its services to millions of consumers in Israel. Facebook operates a Hebrew-language interface for this purpose, and its user agreements are translated into Hebrew."
Despite the critical tone used by the judge, a long road must still be traveled before any damages are awarded to users of the social network in Israel. In accordance with the judge's ruling, Facebook will respond to the request for approval of the class action suit, and it will then be decided whether to claim can proceed further. The procedure is likely to take years, unless terminated earlier by a compromise between the parties.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 16, 2016
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