Cambridge Analytica scandal: Meta settles lawsuit for $725 million
Lawyers claim victory in 'largest settlement ever of a privacy class action in the United States'
Facebook parent Meta has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit brought after the Cambridge Analytica scandal for $725 million.
Facebook was accused in 2018 of allowing UK data analytics and political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica to access the personal data of 87 million users without their consent. These people were connections of 270,000 users of a third-party app called This Is Your Digital Life, which funnelled their data to Cambridge Analytica, where it was used for targeted political campaigning, including for the Brexit campaign and Donald Trump's 2016 presidential election victory.
The data accessed included Facebook users' ages, geographical locations, hobbies, groups they belong to, pages they've liked, religious affiliation, political affiliation, relationships and photographs, as well as their complete names, phone numbers and email addresses.
Facebook users in the US claimed the company had violated several state and federal laws by allowing This Is Your Digital Life and other third-party apps to use their data without permission. They said Facebook's claims that users could control access to their data were misleading.
Facebook's lawyers argued that data shared with friends on social media could no longer be regarded as personal. But this claim was dismissed in 2019 by told US District Court Judge Vince Chhabria who said Facebook's wording was unclear, paving the way for the class-action lawsuit to go ahead.
In August, Meta made a settlement offer in a long-running class action privacy lawsuit, requesting the judge to halt the class action lawsuit for 60 days while the plaintiffs' and Facebook's legal teams work out a written settlement. The move came as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the soon-to-be-former COO Sheryl Sandberg were due to testify in court on the issue. Settling out of court removed their requirement to attend a potentially embarrassing public hearing.
Meta did not admit to any wrongdoing, but said the settlement was "in the best interest of our community and shareholders."
Lawyers for the plaintiffs, Derek Loeser of Keller Rohrback LLP and Lesley Weaver of Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP, called the case "the largest settlement ever of a privacy class action in the United States".
In a joint statement, they said: "This historic settlement will provide meaningful relief to the class in this complex and novel privacy case."
The settlement must now be approved by a San Francisco court.
The case is just the latest fallout for Meta from the scandal, which saw US federal regulators issue a $5 billion penalty 2019 for Facebook deceiving its users and also imposed independent oversight of its personal data management.
Facebook was also issued a £500,000 penalty in the UK, where the scandal was examined by the nation's data protection authority following a raid on Cambridge Analytica's premises. The now-defunct firm initially contested the penalty, but ultimately consented to a settlement with the UK authorities without admitting liability.