Company The lawsuit filed by the Dutch non-profit Data Protection Foundation (SDBN) could result in a multi-billion dollar fine for Elon Musk’s company.
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Between October 2013 and December 2021, the advertising platform MoPub, owned by the then Twitter, illegally collected and shared user data from more than 30,000 free mobile applications. The data was collected without users’ consent, which constitutes a gross violation of the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
These applications included popular services such as Wordfeud, Buienradar, Vinted, Shazam and Duolingo. In addition, the list included fitness apps such as MyFitnessPal, dating apps Grindr and Happn, children’s games such as My Talking Tom and other products.
The initiator of the lawsuit is the SDBN Foundation, which represents the interests of around 11 million adults and 1 million children in the Netherlands, whose data the company manages. The trial is being funded by London-based private equity group Orchard Global Capital Group.
SDBN demands that Company X compensate those affected and delete all illegally collected data. The purpose of the lawsuit is not only to seek compensation, but also to change the way data is handled at the level of the entire IT industry in order to prevent similar violations in the future.
The legal proceedings were initiated by filing a statement of claim with the Rotterdam court. It is expected that the first court decision in this case will not be made until 2026 at the earliest. However, this period may be shortened if X agrees to resolve the dispute. Otherwise there could be billions in fines. According to experts, each affected user must expect compensation of between 250 and 500 euros.
This situation highlights the increasing legal pressure on tech giants in the EU as they seek to ensure compliance with GDPR regulations. The Netherlands recently introduced a new class action system that could lead to an increase in the number of such cases.
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