Campbell v. Facebook Inc.

77 F. Supp. 3d 836, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177331, 2014 WL 7336475
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedDecember 23, 2014
DocketNo. C 13-5996 PJH
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 77 F. Supp. 3d 836 (Campbell v. Facebook Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Campbell v. Facebook Inc., 77 F. Supp. 3d 836, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177331, 2014 WL 7336475 (N.D. Cal. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART MOTION TO DISMISS

PHYLLIS J. HAMILTON, United States District Judge

Defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiffs’ consolidated amended complaint came on for hearing before this court on October 1, 2014. Plaintiffs Matthew Campbell, Michael Hurley, and David Shadpour (“plaintiffs”) 'appeared through their counsel, Michael Sobol. Defendant Facebook, Inc. (“defendant” or “Facebook”) appeared through its counsel, Joshua Jessen. Having read the parties’ papers and carefully considered their arguments and the relevant legal authority, and good cause appearing, the court hereby GRANTS in part and DENIES in part defendant’s motion as follows.

BACKGROUND

This is a privacy case involving the scanning of messages sent on Facebook’s social media website. Facebook describes itself as the “world’s largest social networking platform,” with approximately 1.2 billion users worldwide. Facebook users aré able to share content — such as photos, text, and video — with other users. Users can select the group of people with whom they wish to share this content, and may choose to share certain information publicly (i.e., with all Facebook users), or may choose to share certain information only with their “friends” (i.e., Facebook users with whom they have mutually agreed to share content). Facebook users may also choose to share certain information privately, with just one other Facebook user, through the use of a “private message.” While not identical to email, a private message is analogous to email, in that it involves an electronic message sent from one user to one or more other users. Facebook users can access a “messages” inbox through the Facebook website, which is akin to an email inbox. This suit arises out of Face-book’s handling of these “private messages.”

Plaintiffs allege that Facebook scans the content of these private messages for use in connection with its “social plugin” functionality. Specifically, certain websites have a Facebook “like” counter displayed on their web pages, which enables visitors of the page to see how many Facebook users have either clicked a button indicating that they “like” the page, or have shared the page on Facebook. In essence, the “like” counter is a measure of the popularity of a web page.

Plaintiffs allege that Facebook scans the content of their private messages, and if there is a link to a web page contained in that message, Facebook treats it as a “like” of the page, and increases the page’s “like” counter by one. Plaintiffs further allege that Facebook uses this data regarding “likes” to compile user profiles, which it then uses to deliver targeted advertising to its users. Plaintiffs allege that [839]*839the messaging function is designed to allow users to communicate privately with other users, and that Facebook’s practice of scanning the content of these messages violates the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act (“ECPA,” also referred to as the “Wiretap Act”),-as well as California’s Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”), and section 17200 of California’s Business and Professions Code.

Plaintiffs seek to represent a nationwide class of “all natural person Facebook users located within the United States who have sent or received private messages that included URLs in their content, from within two years before the filing of this action up through and including the date when Face-book ceased its practice.” Consolidated Amended Complaint (“CAC”), ¶ 59.

DISCUSSION

A. Legal Standard

A motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) tests for the legal sufficiency of the claims alleged in the complaint. Ileto v. Glock, Inc., 349 F.3d 1191, 1199-1200 (9th Cir.2003). Review is limited to the contents of the complaint. Allarcom Pay Television, Ltd. v. Gen. Instrument Corp., 69 F.3d 381, 385 (9th Cir.1995). To survive a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, a complaint generally must satisfy only the minimal notice pleading requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8.

Rule 8(a)(2) requires only that the complaint include a “short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a)(2). Specific facts are unnecessary— the statement need only give the defendant “fair notice of the claim and the grounds upon which it rests. Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 93, 127 S.Ct. 2197, 167 L.Ed.2d 1081 (citing Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). All allegations of material fact are taken as true. Id. at 94, 127 S.Ct. 2197. However, a plaintiffs obligation to provide the grounds of his entitlement to relief “requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955 (citations and quotations omitted). Rather, the allegations in the complaint “must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level. Id.

A motion to dismiss should be granted if the complaint does not proffer enough facts to state a claim for relief that is plausible on its face. See id. at 558-59, 127 S.Ct. 1955. “[WJhere the well-pleaded facts do not permit the court to infer more than the mere possibility of misconduct, the complaint has alleged — but it has not show[n] — that the pleader is entitled to relief. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 679, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009).

In addition, when resolving a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, the court may not generally consider materials outside the pleadings. Lee v. City of Los Angeles, 250 F.3d 668, 688 (9th Cir.2001). There are several exceptions to this rule. The court may consider a matter that is properly the subject of judicial notice, such as matters of public record. Id. at 689; see also Mack v. South Bay Beer Distributors, Inc., 798 F.2d 1279, 1282 (9th Cir.1986) (on a motion to dismiss, a court may properly look beyond the complaint to matters of public record and doing so does not convert a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to one for summary judgment). Additionally, the court may consider exhibits attached to the complaint, see Hal Roach Studios, Inc. v. Richard Feiner & Co., Inc., 896 F.2d 1542, 1555 n. 19 (9th Cir.1989), and documents referenced by the complaint and accepted by all parties as authentic. See Van Buskirk v. Cable News Network, Inc., 284 F.3d 977, 980 (9th Cir.2002).

[840]*840B. Legal Analysis

1. Wiretap Act

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

M.D. v. Google LLC
N.D. California, 2025
Rodriguez v. ByteDance, Inc.
N.D. Illinois, 2025
Yoon v. Meta Platforms, Inc.
N.D. California, 2024
M.G. v. Therapymatch, Inc.
N.D. California, 2024
Kis v. COGNISM INC.
N.D. California, 2024
Smith v. Google, LLC
N.D. California, 2024
Price v. Carnival Corporation
S.D. California, 2024
Doe v. Microsoft Corporation
W.D. Washington, 2023
Swarts v. The Home Depot, Inc.
N.D. California, 2023
Yockey v. Salesforce, Inc.
N.D. California, 2023
Hammerling v. Google LLC
N.D. California, 2022

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
77 F. Supp. 3d 836, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177331, 2014 WL 7336475, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/campbell-v-facebook-inc-cand-2014.