Rechtbank Amsterdam [District Court Amsterdam], Civil law, X. v. Facebook, ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2015:3984

(1) The Amsterdam District Court ruled that Facebook has a duty to identify a person who has uploaded a revenge porn video on its social network. 

(2) In this case, the video displays a woman, Chantal, performing oral sex on her now ex-boyfriend. A fake account bearing Chantal’s name was created and used to share the private video with her friends and others. Chantal’s ex-boyfriend, who recorded the video, has always denied uploading the video. Although Facebook removed the video within one hour, the video had already found its way online and is still being shared.

(3) Chantal went to court and claimed release of information identifying the person who created the fake account and uploaded the video. The Lower Court of Amsterdam today ruled against Facebook. According to the Court, Facebook acted unlawfully by not releasing the information. A duty to release such information exists if someone can only stop unlawful actions of another through the release of personal data by the provider.

(4) Although Facebook argued that it no longer possesses the requested information, the Court has doubts whether that actually is the case. The Court therefore ordered Facebook to release any information relating to the owner of the fake account. In case Facebook is unable to release such information, the company should allow an independent third-party to investigate whether Facebook had or still has the information, and what that information entailed or entails. See also Stanford CIS blog post