In re Facebook, Inc. Internet Tracking Litigation
Summary
This published Ninth Circuit opinion concerns privacy claims arising from Facebook's alleged tracking of users on third-party websites, including logged-out users. The court-staff summary reports that the panel found adequate allegations of standing, affirmed dismissal of the Stored Communications Act and contract-related claims, and reversed dismissal of the remaining claims for further proceedings.
Litigation Status
Procedural Posture
Appeal from dismissal of claims in the Northern District of California; the panel affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.
Reported Holding
According to the court-staff summary, the panel held that plaintiffs adequately alleged standing, affirmed dismissal of the Stored Communications Act and contract-related claims, reversed dismissal of the remaining claims, and remanded for further consideration.
What the Court Decided
The court-staff summary reports that the panel found sufficient allegations of standing and affirmed in part and reversed in part the district court's dismissal.
What the Court Did Not Decide
The excerpt does not establish liability or a final disposition of the remanded claims.
Significance
Neutral / mixed significance. Characterizations of significance describe how the matter has generally been discussed in tracked public sources; individual holdings are often narrow, procedural, or fact-specific, and this page does not state or imply broader holdings than the sources support.
What This Page Does and Does Not Say
This page reports what our tracked public sources say about this matter — including, where identified, the procedural posture (for example, a ruling on a motion to dismiss is not a final merits decision). It does not report legal conclusions beyond those sources, does not predict outcomes, and does not constitute legal advice.
Technologies at Issue
- Website plug-ins
- Browsing-history tracking
- Personal profiling
Third parties named or identified in tracked sources: Facebook, Inc..
Statutes Invoked
- Wiretap Act; Stored Communications Act; California Invasion of Privacy Act; Computer Data Access and Fraud Act
Claims Asserted
- Stored Communications Act
- Wiretap Act
- California Invasion of Privacy Act
- Breach of contract
- Breach of implied covenant
- California constitutional invasion of privacy
- California common-law trespass to chattels
- Fraud
- Statutory larceny
- Computer Data Access and Fraud Act
What This Matter May Mean for Website Operators
Because this matter is pending, anything reported here is procedural — allegations and interim rulings, not final determinations.
Detection of a similar technology on a website is an informational risk indicator, not a legal conclusion, and nothing in this section is legal advice.
Related Intelligence
Sources
About This Page
Publisher: Inspection-Ready Institute, Inc. (DBA Crandall Consulting), an independent website compliance and risk consultancy. We are not a law firm and nothing on this page is legal advice.
How this content is produced: Facts are extracted from publicly available sources — court and government materials, recognized legal press, professional analysis, and industry reports — by our litigation intelligence engine, stored with full source provenance, and rendered from the database. Risk guidelines are computed by a deterministic formula, never by an AI model directly. See the full methodology.
Limitations: Counts labeled "Tracked" reflect matters identified in our source set and are not official court statistics. We report what courts decided and did not decide; we do not predict outcomes.
Corrections: If you believe anything on this page is inaccurate, contact us via the contact page and we will review the underlying sources promptly.
Is Your Website Creating Hidden Tracking Risk?
Scan your site for third-party tracking and potential wiretap exposure. Free, no account required.
Scan My Website