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Monday, March 18, 2024

Stackla alleges denial of use of Facebook, Instagram is destroying business

Federal Court
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SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) – A content-gathering company is suing Facebook and Instagram alleging that it was blocked from using the social media sites without just cause.

Stackla Inc. filed a complaint on Sept. 19 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Facebook Inc., Instagram LLC and Does 1-20 alleging intentional interference with contract, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage and other counts.

The suit states the plaintiff provides marketing strategies to clients and "offers an innovative and market leading enterprise platform for marketers to search for positive public content posted on social media about their brands, products, or services by satisfied customers and to display these endorsements through their own marketing."

The plaintiff alleges it has always been a good actor in the marketplace and use data that is publicly available to carry out its work. 

"In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal and fueled by state and federal law enforcement antitrust investigations, a reinvigorated Federal Trade Commission investigation, and Congressional inquiries, Facebook and Instagram recently have begun purging their platforms of companies, at least as to Stackla, without any rhyme or reason and in violation of their good-faith partnerships and agreements," the suit states.

Stackla alleges that there is nothing that it is doing doing that is remotely illegal and as such it should not be prevented from the use of the defendant's sites.

"Stackla’s survival is now in question," the lawsuit says.

The plaintiffs are seeking a trial by jury, declaratory judgment against the defendants, attorneys' fees, court costs, interest and just relief. They are represented by Jeffrey E. Tsai, Isabelle L. Ord, David F. Gross and Anthony L. Portelli of DLA Piper LLP in San Francisco.

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California case number 3:19-cv-05849

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