Max Schrems Against Facebook

Abstract

The lawsuit filed by Max Schrems against Facebook Ireland Ltd. in 2014, under the section on consumer contracts of Regulation No. 44 / 2001, gave rise to a preliminary ruling before the CJEU with regard to the interpretation of Arts. 15 and 16 of the Regulation. The decision was delivered on January 2018: it is as expect and does not deserve much comment. On the contrary, it is worth analysing the setting of the dispute, in particular as regards the weaker party's resources as a claimant against one of the giants of social networks and online media. Equally interesting is the examination of the claim in light of the EU rules that (allegedly) would have applied to the merits, had the claim been filed after the date of application of Regulation nº 2016/679, on the protection of personal data.

Keywords: international jurisdiction, consumer, social media, data protection, collective redress