German court awards 5000 to Facebook users over privacy breaches The Paypers

pAurora Munteanupp11 Jul 2025 5 Min ReadppThe Leipzig District Court has awarded Facebook users EUR 5000 in compensation for data protection violations from Metas Business ToolsppThis marks a significant precedent in European privacy enforcement The German court offered the judgment on July 4th 2025 finding that Meta Platforms Ireland Limited breached the General Data Protection Regulation through its extensive tracking infrastructureppThe court found that Metas Business Tools constitute massive violations of European data protection law through extensive surveillance of users online behaviour generating billions in advertising revenue from unauthorised personal data processing Tracking tools embedded by numerous website operators on their platforms and applications transmitted user data from Instagram and Facebook to Meta Every user remained individually identifiable to Meta whenever they navigated thirdparty websites or used apps even without logging into their Instagram or Facebook accountsppThis data is transferred globally to third countries particularly to the US where the company processes the information to an unknown extent for users The data processing scale is extensive potentially contributing to unlimited data volumes and resulting in complete surveillance over users online behaviourppThe 5th Civil Chamber responsible for data protection law based its decision exclusively on Article 82 of the GDPR rather than national personality rights law according to the court filing This decision distinguishes the Leipzig District Courts ruling from similar cases in other German courts establishing a European framework for deciding compensation damages Privacy advocates have documented numerous instances where Metas tracking methods operated without user knowledge or consentppThe court decided on a EUR 5000 compensation by calculating the commercial value of personal data for Metas advertising as it operates on one of the biggest advertising platforms in social media according to the Federal Cartel Office  However the chamber acknowledged potential outcomes of its decision such as the possibility that Facebook users might file lawsuits without explicitly demonstrating individual damagesppAurora Munteanupp11 Jul 2025 5 Min Readpp Reports on Fraud and FincrimeppNavigating Payment Fraud in the New Age of Digital TransformationppDisrupting Digital Fraud A practical approach to stopping scams and money mules earlyppConsumer Attitudes Toward Policy AbuseppNextGen Tech to Detect Fraud and Financial Crime Report 2024ppFraud Prevention in Ecommerce Report 20242025ppThe Paypers is the Netherlandsbased leading independent source of news and intelligence for professional in the global payment communitypp ppThe Paypers provides a wide range of news and analysis products aimed at keeping the ecommerce fintech and payment professionals informed about the latest developments in the industrypp ppCategoriesppPaymentsppFraud and FincrimeppFintechppCrypto Web3 and CBDCppRegulationsppMA and InvestmentsppCurrent themesppA2A PaymentsppPayment OrchestrationppTradFi and DeFi ConvergenceppKYC KYB and Digital IdentityppScams and FraudppEmbedded FinanceppRealTime PaymentsppThe PaypersppTeamppAdvertiseppContactppThe PaypersppPrinsengracht 777e pp1017 JZ AmsterdamppP 31 20 658 0652ppNo part of this site can be reproduced without explicit permission of The Paypers v27ppPrivacy Policy Cookie Statement ppCopyrightp