Facebook owner Meta to pay nearly $1 billion to settle US class action lawsuit against Cambridge Analytica

By Nate Raymond

BOSTON (Reuters) – Facebook owner Meta has agreed to pay $725 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing the social media giant of allowing third parties, including Cambridge Analytica, to access users’ private information.

The proposed settlement, released late Thursday, resolves a long-running lawsuit that began after revelations in 2018 that Facebook allowed British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica to access data on 87 million users.

Prosecutors called it the largest settlement ever reached in a data privacy class action in the United States, and Meta has yet to pay to settle a class action.

“This historic settlement will provide significant relief to the class in this complex and novel privacy case,” lead attorneys Derek Loeser and Leslie Weaver said in a joint statement.

Meta did not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement, which is subject to approval by a federal judge in San Francisco. The company said in a statement that the deal was “in the best interests of our community and shareholders”.

“Over the past three years, we’ve revamped our approach to privacy and implemented a comprehensive privacy program,” Meta said.

Cambridge Analytica, now defunct, worked for Donald Trump’s successful 2016 presidential campaign and accessed the personal information of millions of Facebook accounts for voter profiling and targeting purposes.

In 2019, Facebook reached $5 billion to settle a US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation into its privacy practices and $100 million over allegations from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Misuse of User Data.

Thursday’s settlement covers claims by Facebook users that the company violated various federal and state laws by allowing app developers and business partners to collect their personal data across the board without their consent.

Lawyers for users accused Facebook of tricking users into believing they could retain control over their personal data while allowing thousands of outsiders to access it.

Facebook argued that its users lacked a legitimate privacy interest in the information they shared with friends on social media. But U.S. District Judge Vince Sapria called that view “grossly wrong” and allowed the lawsuit to proceed in 2019.

related to