NEW YORK: A federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of litigation by Facebook Inc. shareholders who accused CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other officials of deceiving them about the social media company’s growth prospects prior to its May 2012 initial public offering.

By a 3-0 vote, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals said the plaintiffs could not prevail because they failed to show they owned Facebook stock at the time of the alleged misconduct, which predated the $16 billion IPO.

The decision affirmed the February 2013 dismissal of the case by US District Judge Robert Sweet in Manhattan.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Andrew Clubok, a lawyer for the defendants, declined to comment.

Many lawsuits were filed against Facebook as the Menlo Park, California-based company, which went public at $38 per share, saw its share price fall as low as $17.55 by Sept. 4, 2012.

In the case decided on Friday, shareholders alleged that Facebook should have disclosed its internal projections on how increased mobile usage might reduce future revenue.

Writing for the appeals court, however, Circuit Judge Dennis Jacobs said that because Facebook made its disclosures before going public, shareholders could not have contemporaneously owned its stock, and thus could not sue its directors and underwriters.