SAN FRANCISCO — Plaintiffs suing Facebook over its alleged practice of scanning direct messages are invoking a recent ruling from U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh clearing the way for a similar case against Yahoo Inc.

Ruling last week, Koh allowed plaintiffs to move forward with privacy claims under the Stored Communications Act and California’s Invasion of Privacy Act, finding plaintiffs put forth sufficient facts to allege Yahoo had illegally shared the contents of emails with third parties.