BERLIN, Nov 18 (Reuters) - A German court said on Monday

that Facebook users whose data was illegally obtained in 2018

and 2019 were eligible for compensation.

The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) ruled that the loss of

control over one's data online was grounds for damages without

having to prove specific financial losses.

Thousands of Facebook users in Germany are demanding

compensation from parent company Meta for insufficient

protection of their data after unknown third parties were able

to access user accounts by guessing phone numbers.

The claims, which stem from a data breach in 2021 of

information gathered through the Facebook friend search feature,

had been dismissed in principle by a lower court in Cologne and

will now have to be re-examined.

The plaintiff had demanded damages of 1,000 euros ($1,056),

but the BGH said that around 100 euros would be appropriate with

no proof of financial loss.

According to the Karlsruhe-based court, the lower court must

determine whether Facebook's terms of use were transparent and

comprehensible, and whether users' consent to the use of their

data was voluntary.

Meta previously refused to pay compensation on the grounds

that those affected had not been able to prove any concrete

damages.

A Meta spokesperson said the BGH's ruling was "inconsistent

with the recent case law of the European Court of Justice, the

highest court in Europe."

"Similar claims have already been dismissed 6,000 times by

German courts, with a large number of judges ruling that no

claims for liability or damages exist," the spokesperson said.

"Facebook's systems were not hacked in this incident and there

was no data breach."

Roughly six million people in Germany were affected by the

leak.

($1 = 0.9471 euros)