According to French courts, Facebook can be sued in France for blocking the account of a French professor who posted a classic painting that showed parts of the female genitalia.
Facebook is finding itself tangled in French courts, after it was revealed that they can be sued for taking down the account of Frederic Durand-Baissas, a 57-year-old professor from Paris who posted an image showing Gustave Courbet's painting called 'The Origin of the World." The painting, which was done in 1866, depicts a close-up view of the female genitals, prompting Facebook to tag the art lover's post as pornography.
On Friday, the Paris Appeal Court ruled that a case can be filed against the social networking company. Initially, Facebook says that since the main office of the social networking giant is located in Palo Alto, California, their decision to block the professor's account is governed by Californian law.
A lower court ruling, which was released in March 2015, says that a clause in Facebook's terms of agreements signed, was in fact "abusive" in reserving the rights to a California court for disputes while the complainant was in France.
Facebook has appealed against a Paris High Court's authority to hear the case, but according to Reuters, the appeal court states Facebook's claim was inadmissible. Additionally, Facebook has commented that French courts were "not competent" to handle the said case. Facebook mentioned that the contract that a user, such as Baissas, was not classified as a "consumer contract because Facebook's service was free."
This was quickly opposed by the High Court judge in 2015 stating "if the proposed service was free to the user, Facebook was generating significant profits from the business, including via paid applications, advertising and other resources," as reported by Times of India.
"Web giants that they will have now to answer for their possible faults in French courts," said Stephanie Cottineau about the ruling. Cottineau is Durand-Baissas' attorney and spoke to the Associated Press about the case, as reported by Entrepreneur.
