Class Action Files in Europe Against Facebook Seeking Up To $16 Million

An Austrian law student files a class action suit against Facebook for alleged privacy violations and seeking damages of up to $16 million.

Max Schrems said on Thursday that his class action had gathered support from 60,000 users and already passed its first legal review. He is claiming damages of 500 euros ($663) per user.

The suit alleged that Facebook helped the U.S. National Security Agency in mining the personal data of the social network users.

The Vienna Regional Court had ordered Facebook Ireland, who manages the company's international operations, to respond within four weeks to Schrems claims.

Schrems closed the list of plaintiffs earlier this month after 25,000 people joined the campaign, which is the limit of a class action. But he claimed another 35,000 have signified their intent to join the class action via its campaign site www.fbclaim.com.

In 2012, Schrems also organized a campaign that flooded the social network thousands of messages demanding transparency on how they handle personal data of its users. Facebook was then forced to permit its users to vote on the changes in its privacy policy.