A 3D plastic representation of the Facebook logo is seen in this illustration in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, May 13, 2015. 
 
 AMSTERDAM Facebook (FB.O) must turn over any information it possesses that could help a young woman find out who published a sex video of her without her consent, a Dutch court ruled on Thursday. 
 
 The Amsterdam District Court said in its ruling that if the U.S. company cannot comply because it has erased the relevant data -- as it argues -- it must allow an external expert access to its servers to verify that. 
 
 Facebook had argued that the user who posted the video had done so from a fake account and said it had erased all information relating to the post from its servers, along with the video itself, in February. 
 
 "The offending account was ultimately deleted before we received any request for user data, so all information about it was removed from our servers in accordance with our terms and applicable law," Facebook said in a statement emailed to Reuters. 
 
 "We deeply empathize with the victim's experience and share her desire to keep this kind of nonconsensual imagery off of Facebook," it said. 
 
 The woman who sued Facebook has appeared on Dutch television identifying herself as Chantal, 21. She described the suffering and humiliation she has undergone since the video was posted. 
 
 The video, in which the woman is recognisable, was made by a former boyfriend when they were both minors. He denies any involvement in the posting of the video online. 
 
 Although it was removed from Facebook within an hour of being posted, the video was downloaded and then further circulated on the Internet. 
 
 "Facebook has a legal obligation to provide the information because the unknown person acted illegally and the information cannot be obtained elsewhere," a court-issued summary of Thursday's decision said. 
 
 "If Facebook continues to maintain that all data that could lead to a person are definitively deleted from its servers and no longer traceable, that should be confirmed by an independent researcher," the ruling said. 
 
 Facebook, which is the world's largest social media network, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 
 
 (Reporting by Toby Sterling and Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Larry King) ||||| The Hague (AFP) - A Dutch court on Thursday ordered Facebook to hand over the identity of someone who posted a revenge porn video on the social network, or face having its servers opened up to an outside investigator. 
 
 The Amsterdam District Court's judgement comes after a 21-year-old Dutch woman sued Facebook after a video of her performing a sex act on her boyfriend was posted on the site in late January. 
 
 The video, which was made in 2011 while the woman and her boyfriend were still minors, was removed from Facebook "shortly afterwards", but can still be found on the Internet. 
 
 The judge gave Facebook two weeks to comply in handing over the suspect's name, email address, mobile phone number, birthdate, computer IP address and the date and time the film was posted, viewed and removed. 
 
 Facebook has said it no longer has any relevant information after the account was deleted, according to court documents. 
 
 Should Facebook not comply, "an independent third party must be appointed to investigate the question whether Facebook has or had the details," and compile a report, the court said in a statement. 
 
 A lawyer for the woman in the video, identified as "Chantal" from the southern town of Werkendam, told Dutch media his client's life "turned into hell." 
 
 Her ex-boyfriend denies posting the video, Dutch media reported. 
 
 Thomas van Vught told De Telegraaf newspaper that his client did not believe the relevant data had been deleted, saying: "Facebook records everything: including accepted 'friend' requests with dates and times." 
 
 Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
– Facebook is sometimes accused of trampling users' privacy, but it soon might have to allow an outsider to go rummaging through its servers. That's the result of a court decision out of the Netherlands today ordering the company to turn over the ID of the person who posted a revenge porn video, reports Reuters. The company maintains that the data no longer exists because it wiped out the fake account from which the video was posted, but the Amsterdam District Court says that if Facebook can't provide the information, it must allow an expert from outside the company verify that it's gone for good. "The offending account was ultimately deleted before we received any request for user data," says a Facebook statement. "We deeply empathize with the victim's experience and share her desire to keep this kind of nonconsensual imagery off of Facebook." A 21-year-old woman identified only as Chantal has sued Facebook over the February sex video, which shows her with her then-boyfriend in 2011, when they were both minors. The ex-boyfriend made the tape but denies posting it online, where it continues to circulate, reports AFP. The woman's lawyer says her life has "turned into hell" since it first went up. (Google is taking steps to crack down on revenge porn in search results.)