Facebook Users Can’t Sue as Group Over Advertising Data Use

By Joel Rosenblatt, Bloomberg News

Facebook Inc. defeated a bid for a group lawsuit claiming the company illegally gave its users’ personal information to advertisers.

Facebook users accused the social network “automatically and surreptitiously” disclosing to advertisers information about them when they clicked on ads. They said that included how they were using the website and was “contrary to Facebook’s explicit privacy promises.”

U.S. District Judge Ronald M. Whyte in San Jose, California, on Friday ruled the lawsuit would contain too many “individualized questions” to go forward as a class action.

Privacy lawsuits against Facebook and other Internet companies have ...