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The hacked Facebook users could receive up to 6,000 pounds ($ 7,800) in compensation as a result of the security breach revealed last week.
Legal experts told the Sun that damages could reach the "thousands" for anyone affected by the piracy – if you can prove that you are in distress.
Last Friday, Facebook revealed that hackers now have access to 50 million accounts.
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The violation was possible thanks to several bugs in Facebook's systems, which were exploited by hackers.
This meant that attackers could log in as anyone, and access their profile, photos, friend lists, and even private messages.
As a security measure, Facebook has logged 90 million connected users, but the bugs were present in the site code since June 2017.
The Sun spoke to legal experts from British law firms Slater and Gordon, who revealed that concerned UK citizens could make a claim against Facebook.
Gareth Pope, head of the company's litigation group, told The Sun that it would be possible to file a "civil suit" under the new European Data Protection RGPD that came into force earlier this year. year.
"There are certain rules – one of them is the safety principle, which means [Facebook] must secure your data with the appropriate technical and organizational measures, "said Gareth.
He said this rule was "nice and wide" and gave Facebook users the best chance of making money out of the rogue social network.
"If you left a laptop on the train without a password, the data is not secure," he said.
"If you left the doors of your system open to hackers, you also did not secure your data."
According to Gareth, Article 82 of the GDPR regulation allows anyone to "claim for compensation from Facebook if it has suffered material damage or not."
"This is where you will convince them of breaking the law. Under the GDPR, you do not respect the safety principle set out in these laws, "he said.
Previously, Facebook users had to prove a financial loss to get compensation.
But this is no longer true.
"You could say that the hackers took control of my Facebook account, which caused me some kind of distress," and that's enough now, "he said.
He added that joining a group action – rather than attacking only Facebook – would also be wiser.
"If you're acting in a group, you'll be more likely to bring Facebook to the table and take your demands more seriously," Gareth told The Sun.
So, how much could you really get from Facebook?
According to Gareth, the potential compensation of a civil lawsuit "is infinite" – but it is unlikely that you will receive millions of dollars from billionaire Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg.
Instead, he approaches thousands: "When we look at hacking from a social account, I would think it would amount to several thousand pounds of damage."
You will have a better chance of getting more money if something serious happens to you after Facebook hacking.
"The court will have to value the degree of suffering you have suffered yourself," Gareth said.
"And so, for example, this could be a pretty wide range.If someone had taken information and nobody knew who had taken them – and nothing had happened – then you could say that you feel distress.
"If someone hacked a business and all sorts of commercial details and trade secrets, and managed to get financial information, and was losing money, the compensation would obviously be higher."
Gareth admitted that his own company, Slater, and Gordon were considering defending themselves, but they would need someone to fund the lawsuit, since hacked users could probably only expect that a compensation of a few thousand pounds.
"It's certainly something we would consider," he said.
"It's more complex than saying, yes, it's winnable." We would obviously need to know how the claim was funded, we would need a funder.
"We did not expect claimants to want to pay us to handle the claim for compensation for just £ 4, £ 5, £ 6,000.
"We would also need an insurance policy so that customers do not have to pay Facebook's legal fees if we lose."
It is also possible that Facebook decides to settle the case amicably – and only pays fees to hacked users.
Currently, Facebook weighs about 361 billion pounds and employs some of the world's best lawyers, but Zuck's empire might find a court battle too expensive.
"Facebook has essentially unlimited resources – if these claims are probably not tens of thousands [of pounds] so they could be several thousand [of pounds] at least.
"You will start thinking about costs and benefits."
This story originally appeared on The Sun. Read more of The Sun's content here.
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