The suit is being readied by Kyle Taylor, director of Fair Vote UK, and Bindmans LLP. 

It follows the publication of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s select committee interim report on fake news at the weekend. 

Bindmans LLP’s Tamsin Allen said: “This week, we are taking the first formal steps in proceedings against Facebook for breaches on a vast scale of the agreement between the company and its users, and breaches of UK personal data rules.”

Facebook informed those whose data had been improperly obtained, but Allen said the company’s failure to protect users’ data was made “woefully apparent” during the investigation by the Commons select committee.

Taylor, who is also one of the claimants, said: “It is now abundantly clear the status quo with regard to how we hold internet giants to account does not work. The solution is urgent reform to properly regulate and oversee companies like Facebook. Because the breaches took place before the GDPR came into effect, the fines are simply not great enough to deter this behaviour.”

Members of the public can check whether their personal data was harvested via the Fair Vote UK website.

Separately, according to a report in Wired, a group of UK residents has sent Facebook a letter threatening to sue, accusing the company of violating data privacy regulations.