Facebook Goes Down, Everyone On The Internet Is Losing Their Minds

Could it be that the latest Facebook malfunction has anything to do with the recent legal struggles that the social media giant is facing?

Earlier today, Facebook went down for a period of about 30 minutes, showing the following error:

Interestingly enough, something else happened earlier today: News broke about a class action lawsuit that has just been filed against Facebook decrying the social media site’s privacy policy. According to PC World, the suit, Europe vs Facebook, was filed by a man by the name of Max Schrems. The filing took place in a commercial court in Vienna, Austria and Schrems is reportedly suing Facebook Ireland for “basic or obvious violations of the law” and addresses the company’s privacy policy as well as it’s questionable connections to the Prism data collection program run by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA).

Other complaints filed at the time of the lawsuit address the collection of third party website use by the members of the social media giant as well as claims that the app spies on users and even records telephone calls of those who are actively using their mobile messenger app.

The group behind the lawsuit, which is, of course, headed up by Max Schrems, offered the following insight regarding the decision to sue Facebook, and why they’re encouraging others to join the lawsuit:

“Because it took a lot of effort to put this lawsuit together and there are many other people in the same position, it made sense to also invite other users to join the lawsuit.”

NDTV further reports that the group funding Schrems in his pursuit of privacy justice is a private financial group based out of Germany. The group is called Roland ProzessFinanz and will bear the brunt of the legal expenses associated to the class action suit.

The lawsuit is claiming damages of 500 euros ($670 USD) per user in conjunction with the alleged privacy violations on the part of Facebook. When asked why such a small amount of money is being sought, the group released the following statement:

“This is intentionally low because our main aim is to enforce our fundamental rights.”

In lieu of major financial damages, Schrems and Roland ProzessFinanz are further seeking legislation which will protect the privacy of Facebook users and states that is the primary reason for the suit.

At the time of this report, Facebook has declined to comment.

[Photo credit: Computerbild]