Meta Case Against Intelware Vendor Voyager Lags to Go Forward

June 21, 2024

Another clever intelware play gets trapped and now moves to litigation. Meta asserts that when Voyager Labs scraped data on over 600,000 Facebook users, it violated its contract. Furthermore, it charges, the scraping violated anti-hacking laws. While Voyager insists the case should be summarily dismissed, U.S. District Court Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin disagrees. MediaDailyNews reports, “Meta Can Proceed With Claims that Voyager Labs Scraped Users’ Data.” Writer Wendy Davis explains:

“Voyager argued the complaint should be dismissed at an early stage for several reasons. Among others, Voyager said the allegations regarding Facebook’s terms of service were too vague. Meta’s complaint ‘refers to a catchall category of contracts … but then says nothing more about those alleged contracts, their terms, when they are supposed to have been executed, or why they allegedly bind Voyager UK today,’ Voyager argued to Martinez-Olguin in a motion filed in February. The company also said California courts lacked jurisdiction to decide whether the company violated federal or state anti-hacking laws. Martinez-Olguin rejected all of Voyager’s arguments on Thursday. She wrote that while Meta’s complaint could have set out the company’s terms of service ‘with more clarity,’ the allegations sufficiently informed Voyager of the basis for Meta’s claim.”

This battle began in January 2023 when Meta first filed the complaint. Now it can move forward. How long before the languid wheels of justice turn out a final ruling? A long time we wager.

Cynthia Murrell, June 21, 2024

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