By posting content on Facebook almost every day, Lina Murr Nehme lost her account and data overnight, as reported The Parisian. The 69-year-old historian was unable to log into the social network for three and a half years after the company deactivated her account. Denouncing abusive censorship, she sued the American company.
One of his posts had already earned him a warning from Facebook. She had deleted it for fear of censorship. Although the company defends freedom of expression, it went further in December 2019, deactivating its account after another publication aimed at denouncing ISIS.
a long fight
This Wednesday, March 27, a hearing took place at the Paris judicial court on this case. A trial that was difficult to win. After deactivating her account, Lina Murr Nehme first tried to solve the problem with Facebook. In particular, the historian sent a request to recover her data, under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Article 20 of this European law stipulates that Europeans have the “right to data portability.” They thus have the possibility of requesting the recovery of the information they have provided to a platform. However, Lina Murr Nehme’s request was rejected.
A year later, in 2020, Camille Alligand, on behalf of her client, formally notified Facebook to reopen her account, but was unsuccessful. “It has lost all visibility,” laments the lawyer, who took the company to court in 2021.
Abusive clause
Initially, the company claimed the incompetence of the French courts, but the court did not rule in its favor. Facebook therefore appealed the decision, but the Paris Court of Appeal also ruled that French justice had jurisdiction. “That’s when Facebook reopened my client’s account,” notes Camille Alligand. Four years later, the American company found itself in court. The historian criticizes him in particular for not having justified the deactivation of his account.
The Paris High Court had already declared this clause unfair in 2019, following a complaint from the consumer association UFC-Que Choisir. He reminded Facebook that it cannot “suspend or delete an account without justification or recourse.”
A deactivation still unjustified
If this clause has been modified, it remains similar to the previous one, specifies Camille Alligand. In its Help Center, Facebook warns that we may “not notify you before deactivating your account” for violations of its community rules or terms of service.
While the court will rule on June 5, the historian and her lawyer are waiting for “an official recognition of a fault and the confirmation of censorship by Facebook.”
They also want the termination clause declared illegal and for the company to explain why the account was deactivated. When asked by the court whether Facebook recognizes an unjustified suspension, his lawyer declined to answer.
Meta, contacted by Tech&Co, did not respond to our requests.
Source: BFM TV
