January, 14 2022, 09:50am EDT
OMI Executive Director Barry Lynn Statement on $3.2 Billion Class-Action Lawsuit Against Facebook
WASHINGTON
This morning, lawyers in the U.K. filed a $3.2 billion class-action lawsuit against Facebook, alleging the corporation overcharged users for services by failing to fairly value the data it collects on individuals. The lawsuit was led by Liza Lovdahl-Gormsen, a long-time ally of the Open Markets Institute and a member of our advisory board. Lovdahl-Gormsen is a Senior Advisor to the UK Financial Conduct Authority. OMI Executive Director Barry Lynn released the following statement in reference to the case:
"Today's lawsuit against Facebook marks a big step forward for democracy in the UK and around the world. It demonstrates that private citizens can use the law to protect themselves and the public as a whole, even when government has been slow to act. The action demonstrates the importance of a 2015 decision to establish a right to bring private class-action lawsuits in Britain and helps light the way towards similar UK actions against other monopolists. The action also serves as a challenge to Americans to fight the multi-decade effort by monopolists to eliminate collective litigation and to protect and strengthen our two-century-old right to act directly against economic and political threats posed by private corporations."
The Open Markets Institute works to address threats to our democracy, individual liberties, and our national security from today's unprecedented levels of corporate concentration and monopoly power. By combining policy, legal, and market structure expertise with sophisticated communications and outreach efforts, Open Markets seeks not only to hold today's monopolies accountable for abuse of power, but to rebuild an economic system where progress is easier to achieve, because power is far more widely and equitably distributed
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The Wall Street Journalreported Thursday that members of Trump's transition team and the new Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency have asked nominees under consideration to head the FDIC and OCC if the bank watchdogs could be eliminated and have their functions absorbed by the Treasury Department, which is set to be run by a billionaire hedge fund manager and crypto enthusiast.
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