An Italian court has granted approval for a class action lawsuit to proceed against Meta, Facebook's parent company, over allegations of data scraping practices on the social media platform.

The court decision allows multiple plaintiffs to collectively pursue legal action against the tech giant regarding how user data was collected and processed on Facebook. Class action lawsuits enable groups of individuals with similar claims to combine their cases into a single legal proceeding.

Data scraping refers to the automated collection of information from websites and digital platforms. The practice has become a significant privacy concern as companies and third parties extract user information for various purposes, often without explicit user consent.

The lawsuit represents the latest legal challenge facing Meta over its data handling practices. The company has faced numerous privacy-related investigations and penalties in recent years from regulators across multiple jurisdictions.

Meta has not yet publicly responded to the Italian court's decision. The case will now proceed through the Italian legal system, where plaintiffs will need to demonstrate their claims regarding the company's data collection practices.