Judge rejects Facebook's bid to sidestep privacy lawsuit

US-based Facebook Inc has lost a preliminary bid to dodge a privacy lawsuit filed against it by Australia's Information Commissioner over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, after a court ruled the lawsuit could be served on it outside Australia.

Lawyers for Facebook Inc had asked Federal Court Justice Thomas Thawley to set aside his earlier decision allowing the Information Commissioner to serve legal documents on the company in America. They did not ask Justice Thawley to set aside an identical decision allowing documents to be served on Facebook Ireland.

Australia's Information and Privacy Commissioner, Angelene Falk, has alleged the personal data of more than 300,000 Australian Facebook users was disclosed between March 2014 and May 2015 for purposes other than those for which it was collected – a breach of Australia's Privacy Act.

The information, which included a range of personal details, including birthdays, locations, page likes, friend lists and email addresses, was allegedly disclosed to data science firm Cambridge Analytica through the "This is Your Digital Life" app.

The Information Commissioner launched legal action against Facebook Inc and Facebook Ireland in March this year for alleged breaches of the Privacy Act.

In a bid to have the order permitting service of the lawsuit on it outside Australia set aside, Facebook Inc had argued it did not carry on business in Australia.

Justice Thawley said on Monday the Information Commissioner had made out a prima facie case – meaning a case on the face of it – that Facebook Inc was carrying on business in Australia, and was collecting and holding personal information in Australia at the relevant time.

"While these matters remain to be established at trial, the court held the matters were sufficiently arguable to justify service outside of Australia and subjecting Facebook Inc to proceedings in Australia," the Office of the Information Commissioner said in a statement.

"Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner Angelene Falk welcomed today’s decision and said her office would continue to move forward with the case."

The Federal Court action follows a lengthy investigation into the 2018 scandal, which affected tens of millions of users globally.

Cambridge Analytica, widely associated with the 2016 campaign of United States President Donald Trump, shut down in 2018. The US Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook $US5 billion ($6.87 billion) in July last year for privacy breaches associated with the scandal.