Romanian sues Google and Facebook, claims they haven’t paid his work

A Romanian living in Ghergani village, in southern Romania, has sued US tech giants Google and Facebook in an attempt to recover the money he claims the two companies owe him, namely EUR 26,400 and EUR 10,500, Profit.ro reported.

He claims that, between 2010 and 2016, he did over 16,400 edits on the Google maps, verified and approved more than 10,000 third-party edits done by beginners, and did another 10,500 edits on Facebook's Bing maps.

For his work, he says he received only a backpack, a mug, a pen and a diploma from Google Romania and a shirt from Facebook.

The applicant also pointed out, in his complaint to a local court, that his work benefits millions of people, and the two companies make profits of millions of euro.

In response, Facebook rejected the claims for several reasons, one of which was that the documents transmitted to the company by the court were written in Romanian, without being accompanied by an English translation, as provided by the Hague Convention, ratified by Romania in 2003.

Separately, Facebook's lawyers have argued that Răcari Court (where the Romanian filed the complaint) has no jurisdiction to settle the action brought by the applicant.

Moreover, the plaintiff’s request isn’t accompanied by a contract or legal provision to prove the company’s alleged obligation to pay him compensation.

(Photo: Pixabay)