Austrian law student Max Schrems is calling on 1 billion of Facebook's global users to join him in a lawsuit against Facebook over privacy rights.
The class action suit against the social media company was launched Aug. 1 in Austria, and in doing so he invited any Facebook user outside the U.S. and Canada to join him -- around 1 billion users.
The damages being claimed are 500 euros, or around $670, per supporting user for the alleged violation of data privacy.
The suit itself has been dubbed a "David and Goliath" lawsuit, and eventually could become the largest lawsuit ever to take place in Europe.
"We are only claiming a small amount, as our primary objective is to ensure correct data protection. However, if many thousands of people participate we would reach an amount that will have a serious impact on Facebook." Schrems said in an interview.
The case will take place in Vienna against the Irish subsidiary of Facebook. Schrems has already collected over 20 complaints of data breaches involving Facebook, which have all been filed with the Data Protection Commission in Ireland.
The lawsuit claims that Facebook Ireland is in breach on European law on data, saying that it essentially violates users' rights by tracking Internet visits on external sites that use features including the "Like" button.
"We want to show to the U.S. industry that they have to respect [European] fundamental rights if they want to do business in Europe," the 26-year-old said in a statement. "We love the technology, but we want to be able to use things without permanent worry for our privacy. Right now you have two options: live like in the stone age, or take action. We decided for the second."
Facebook users from anywhere outside the U.S. and Canada may join the case as long as they're over the age of 18. A financier will bear the legal costs if the case is lost. In the event of the case being won, the financier will take 20 percent of the damages awarded. Users can essentially join the case at no financial risk.
This is certainly not the first time that Facebook has been criticized for violating data protection laws. A data watchdog group in Britain recently began an investigation into a 2012 experiment on unknowing users in which Facebook tried to change users' emotional state to see if their postings became more positive or negative.
This is also not the first time that Max Schrems is involved in legal action against Facebook. He famously requested that Facebook disclose all the information that they had on him, after which he received a stack of 1,222 pages. In 2012 he also forced Facebook to remove its photo-tagging suggestion feature in Europe, saying that the feature violated users' privacy.
