Milan Court Accepts Meta Platforms Class Action Over Facebook Personal Data Scraping Affecting 35 Million Users
Published on April 15, 2026
Key Takeaways
- Class action approved: A Milan court authorized a Meta Platforms class action initiated by the CTCU consumer association over a massive data scraping lawsuit.
- Millions of victims: The Facebook Italy data breach impacted approximately 35 million local users and 533 million individuals globally between 2018 and 2019.
- Regulatory compliance challenged: The litigation asserts severe violations of GDPR compliance, seeking compensation for users who lost control over their personal data.
A Milan court has officially accepted a class-action lawsuit filed against Meta Platforms by the consumer protection group CTCU. This legal proceeding addresses the extensive theft of personal information linked to a major Facebook Italy data breach.
The legal action stems from a massive data scraping incident that occurred between January 2018 and September 2019. Meta formally disclosed this vulnerability in 2021.
Facebook Data Scraping GDPR Compliance
According to court documents cited by Reuters, unauthorized actors extracted sensitive information affecting roughly 533 million Facebook users worldwide. Legal experts estimate that this data scraping lawsuit could affect up to 35 million individuals residing in Italy.
The CTCU consumer association is demanding financial compensation on behalf of social media users who lost or feared losing control over their personal information due to a direct breach of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
This Meta Platforms class action sets a critical precedent for how regional courts evaluate and enforce GDPR compliance when multinational corporations experience large-scale data extraction events.
Corporate Response and Next Steps
Meta Platforms maintains a firm stance against the allegations. A spokesperson stated that the Milan court's decision represents a procedural ruling rather than a definitive finding of legal violations.
The company expressed confidence that the judiciary will ultimately dismiss the claims.
In other recent news, eight tech giants, including Meta, are being investigated over deficient CSAM reporting. In March, Meta AI Glasses were investigated by the UK's ICO over privacy concerns after employees allegedly reviewed intimate user videos.
In 2025, Meta was sued on allegations of using pirated pornographic content and copyrighted materials, including books from unauthorized shadow libraries such as Z-Library and Anna’s Archive, for AI training.
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