Germany: Issued Federal Court of Justice decision in lawsuit concerning scraping complex (claims in connection with a data protection incident on the social network Facebook) (No. 218/2024)

On 18 November 2024, The Federal Court of Justice partially overturned a previous ruling from the Higher Regional Court of Cologne which dismissed all plaintiff claims, which had been issued on 7 December 2023. In overturning the regional court's decision, the Federal Court cited non-material damages, future damages, and the validity of the plaintiff's injunction claim. In relation to non-material damages, the Federal Court ruled that even a short-term loss of control over personal data could constitute non-material damage under Article 82(1) of GDPR, with no specific misuse of data or additional negative consequences required. The court indicated that compensation for loss of control could be EUR 100. In addition, the court upheld the plaintiff's right to seek a declaration of liability for potential future damages, recognizing the apparent risk under the circumstances. Furthermore, the plaintiff's claim for an injunction against Facebook’s use of their phone number (beyond consented uses) was accepted as sufficiently specific, with legal protection deemed necessary. The court also supported the plaintiff's claim to reimburse pre-trial legal costs and rejected further claims for an injunction or disclosure. As a next step, the case was sent back to the Cologne Higher Regional Court for reconsideration on whether Facebook's default search settings complied with data minimisation principles and whether the plaintiff gave effective consent for Facebook's data processing.