A UK-based lawsuit against Meta surrounding its sharing of data between platforms has been given the go ahead in London.

Despite Meta saying the claims are without merit, Dr Lisa Lovdahl Gormsen claims Meta is offering an unfair bargain with its users.

She is suing on behalf of 45 million Facebook users, claiming that Facebook is abusing its market dominance and forcing users to share their data from non-Facebook products and other Meta-owned platforms, like Instagram.

The lawsuit claims that sharing personal data with third parties has become conditional to using Facebook, creating a “take-it-or-leave-it” offer.

Gromsen is essentially saying that Meta monetarily benefitted by not compensating Facebook users for the amount of personal data they collected, that could then be shared across to its other platforms and to third party platforms.

Facebook says that the lawsuit ignores the value Facebook does provide to users, however.

After refusing to go ahead with the case last year, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has reversed its decision and the case is set to move forward, by the first half of 2026.

The decision for the lawsuit to go ahead follows recent EU rulings surrounding Facebook’s data policies.

After a landmark ruling in the EU, Meta’s platforms were found to be in breach of GDPR as they were found to lack a reasonable legal basis for their collection of personal data to use of targeted advertisements.

In response to this ruling, Meta will run Europe’s Facebook on a subscription service, where people can pay for an ad-free service. However, those who cannot pay can access the site and services for free, but their personal data will be harvested and sold to advertisers which will appear on the platform.

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This move is already being slammed by Max Shrems-led privacy advocacy group NYOB (none-of-your-business), which said the new policy could lead to more platforms adopting the same model, and many will be left unable or unwilling to pay to stop their data being sold.

Essentially, a choice where one option is free and the other is paid, is not an equal choice.

Still, Meta has also introduced different data sharing choices in the EU to comply with the Digital Markets Act – now EU users will be able to use Facebook Messenger, Marketplace, and Games without linking a Facebook account.

While the EU’s GDPR has dismantled the status quo of Facebook’s operations, the UK has not matched this step despite currently still abiding by the same set of laws and standards.

By 2026, however, the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill will likely be placed into law, leaving the future of data protection in the UK at greater uncertainty.