Meta Argues Platform Not Responsible for Dating App’s Image Misuse

Facebook isn’t responsible for a dating app’s decision to use a woman's Facebook image for marketing purposes without consent, platform parent Meta argued Friday in docket 2:19-cv-04034. Philadelphia news anchor Karen Hepp sued Facebook in 2018 for running an ad from the dating app FirstMet, which used her image without consent. The platform violated her right to publicity, Hepp claimed. Facebook was a “passive distributor” of the ad, and Hepp didn’t show the platform benefited from the use of her likeness, Meta argued in a filing with the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia. The platform is immune from liability under the Pennsylvania Act as a "communications medium" without "actual knowledge," the platform said.