Facebook’s parent company Meta has filed a $700 million lawsuit to settle a long-running class action lawsuit, alleging it gives Cambridge Analytica and other third parties access to users’ personal information and misleads users about its privacy practices. agreed to pay $25 million.
The proposed settlement follows a legal battle that began four years ago shortly after Cambridge Analytica, a data analytics firm working with the Trump campaign, said it had obtained the personal information of up to 87 million Facebook users. The data breach sparked a violent international scandal for Facebook and attracted the attention of regulators on both sides of the Atlantic.
The lawsuit involves obtaining millions of pages of documents from Facebook and other parties, and hundreds of hours of testimony involving dozens of current and former Facebook employees.
A user who agreed to Facebook called the settlement “the largest recovery ever obtained in a privacy class action lawsuit and the largest amount Facebook has ever paid for a settlement.” They estimate that between 250 million and 280 million people could be entitled to payments under the class action settlement.
The settlement is subject to approval by a judge who will hear the motion in March.
“We pursued a settlement as it’s in the best interest of our community and shareholders. Over the last three years we revamped our approach to privacy and implemented a comprehensive privacy program. We look forward to continuing to build services people love and trust with privacy at the forefront,” Meta spokesperson Dina Luce said in a statement.
Meta has not admitted wrongdoing as part of the settlement.In its request for approval of the settlement, the suing user pointed to changes Facebook made after Cambridge Analytica’s breach. This includes limiting third party access to User Data, improving communication with Users about it, and improving how data is collected and shared.
The Cambridge Analytica leak began when a psychology professor collected data from millions of Facebook users via an app that offered personality tests, then used obscure and sophisticated technology to hold elections. leaked to a service that promised to screen voters on The winning presidential candidate won by a narrow margin in several key states.
A 2020 report by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office later raised serious questions about Cambridge Analytica’s capabilities, suggesting that many of them were exaggerated. However, the misuse and sharing of Facebook data has sparked a series of incidents that have led to investigations and lawsuits.
The scandal sparked global outcry, leading to public hearings, an apology tour by Zuckerberg, and various changes to the platform. Agreed to a $100 million privacy settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations that it misled investors about the risks of misuse of user data.
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