The Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv) can take legal action against the Facebook parent company Meta.

That was decided on Thursday by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg.

He thus strengthened the judicial control of large Internet platforms.

According to the judgment, a specific order from a user is not required for the consumer protection lawsuit (Case C-319/20)

The vzbv accuses Meta of violating data and consumer protection rules as well as competition rules when making free games from third-party providers available in the platform's "App Center".

The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) considers the lawsuit to be well-founded, but was unsure whether it was permissible at all.

He asked the ECJ about this.

The judges in Karlsruhe referred to the comprehensive control rights that the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which has been in force since May 25, 2018, grants to the national data protection officers, here at the headquarters of Meta Platforms, as the full company name is, in Ireland.

The ECJ has now decided that EU states can continue to provide for a class action right.

An order from affected users is not required for this.

It is sufficient if the rights of "identifiable natural persons" are affected and, according to the association, violated.

Right to sue in the public interest

As justification, the Luxembourg judges emphasized that a right to take collective action is in the public interest.

Because it pursues the goal of guaranteeing the rights of consumers.

A breach of consumer protection could go hand in hand with a breach of data protection.

The GDPR does not stand in the way of a nationally regulated class action law as in Germany.

Rather, this is "in line with the objective of the GDPR, which is in particular to ensure a high level of protection of personal data," argued the ECJ.

After the verdict, the BGH can now decide on the content of the vzbv's allegations against Meta.

In their order for reference, the Karlsruhe judges had already indicated that they considered this to be justified.