Judge grants Facebook evidence request in proposed class action

A Quebec judge has ruled that Facebook Inc. can bring forward evidence the company believes will assist it in challenging a proposed class-action lawsuit. Facebook has been accused by an individual identified as CD -- who has sought leave of the court to bring forward a class action suit against the social media giant -- of hosting pages that allow people to publicly and anonymously denounce others with allegations of harassment or sexual assault. According to justice Martin Sheehan’s May 25 decision, CD claims that people who run the pages publish names of purported abusers as they are sent in without verifying the allegations against them. Because of this, CD claims Facebook allows users to publish false information about members without verification, publish content that goes against its use policies, that it refuses to remove offensive content after a request is made, and created algorithms that suggest and encourage controversial content. Facebook claims the evidence it wants to bring forward is necessary to show that certain allegations against it are false or to evaluate CD’s cause of action, and justice Sheehan has granted it that ability. Sheehan wrote that Facebook wants to include a version of a list published in December 2020 which mentions that the CD on that list does not refer to the CD involved in the suit, as well as a version of the list from earlier this month which does not include the name at all. It also wants to bring forward excerpts from CD’s own Facebook page and from another site to show that they allegedly go by a second surname, not only CD, plus Google search page results that show where else the list is available. Justice Sheehan wrote that CD had previously claimed their name is common in Quebec, and that it would be difficult to know whether the allegations are against them or another person with the same name. Facebook claims the December 2020 version of the list demonstrates that this is false because it clarifies which CD it intended to name. As well, it claims the list from May 2021 demonstrates an absence of a cause of action because the name has been removed.

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Judge grants Facebook evidence request in proposed class action

Brief | May 31, 2021

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