A federal jury found on Friday that Meta violated the California Invasion of Privacy Act, the state’s wiretap law, by collecting data from a period-tracker app without user consent.
Plaintiffs in a class-action case proved by a preponderance of evidence that Meta intentionally eavesdropped on and/or recorded conversations using an electronic device, said a verdict form released yesterday in US District Court for the Northern District of California. Plaintiffs also proved that they had a reasonable expectation of privacy and that Meta did not have consent from all parties to eavesdrop on and/or record the conversations, the jury found.
The lawsuit was filed in 2021 against Flo Health, maker of an app for tracking periods, ovulation, and pregnancy. Facebook owner Meta, Google, and app analytics company Flurry were added as defendants later. The plaintiffs settled with Flo Health, Google, and Flurry before the trial, leaving Meta as the only remaining defendant.
