Netherlands-based Stichting Massaschade & Consument (Mass Damage & Consumer Foundation), a non-profit organisation that defends the rights of consumers, instituted a class action on 2nd September 2021 against the providers of the social media platform – TikTok.
Stichting Massaschade & Consument is seeking the Amsterdam court to order TikTok to pay more than 6 billion euros in damages. Stichting Massaschade & Consument is the third foundation to sue TikTok over privacy issues in Dutch court this year. In June 2021, two other foundations, the Take Back Your Privacy Foundation and Dutch Consumers’ Association, had sued TikTok and had requested the company to pay the sum of €1.5billion as compensation to all Netherlands children who use or used the social media platform but this eventually led to a $92 million settlement by TikTok. The earlier suit only attempted to have TikTok pay damages based on the violation of children’s privacy rights, while Stichting Massaschade & Consument’s action seeks compensation for all age groups.
According to the Foundation, the suit is to stand up for all users of the app-TikTok with the hope that the Amsterdam court would slam TikTok with a court order to pay €6 billion to those affected. Also, the Foundation stated that it wants to encourage TikTok to respect European privacy laws and provide clarity on the logic behind its algorithm.
The Foundation is claiming a fixed amount of damage per user, varying from €1.250 – €1.750 depending on users’ age group.
The Foundation divided the damages into three categories.
- €1,750 for persons between 6-12 years
- €1,500 for persons between 13-17 and
- €1,250 for persons aged 18 years and above.
It is expected that this lawsuit would serve as a deterrent to other social media platforms involved in privacy violation of users’ personal data.
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