Judge Mary K. Dimke from the US District Court for the Eastern District of Washington has given permission for a proposed class action lawsuit that claims Twitter Inc. unlawfully sold the phone numbers of its account holders to third parties to proceed in federal court.

Glen Morgan initiated the lawsuit, alleging that Twitter violated the state Criminal Profiteering Act by acquiring the telephone numbers that he and other members of the class used to register their accounts, and subsequently selling them.

Twitter argued that the plaintiffs had failed to establish federal standing under Article III of the US Constitution and requested that the case be remanded to state court. Judge Dimke disagreed, claiming that the complaint's allegations of privacy violation were sufficient to establish Article III standing.

The ruling is significant because it means that the case will stay in federal court, where the plaintiffs will have access to a wider range of legal remedies and will have more possibility of acheiving a positive result. Additionally, the ruling highlights the importance of establishing federal standing in order to bring the case to federal court.

This ruling emphasises the significance of plaintiffs demonstrating federal standing in order to bring claims in federal court. The decision also affirms that, even if the defendant contests the plaintiff's standing, a claimed injury, such as an invasion of privacy, may be sufficient to establish Article III standing.