Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg walks at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California April 4, 2013. Facebook’s parent company Meta has agreed to pay $725 million to settle a class action lawsuit over confidentiality.
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
hide caption
toggle caption
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg walks at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California April 4, 2013. Facebook’s parent company Meta has agreed to pay $725 million to settle a class action lawsuit over confidentiality.
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
Facebook parent company Meta has agreed to pay $725 million to settle a class action lawsuit claiming it improperly shared user information with Cambridge Analytica, a data analytics firm used by the Trump campaign .
The proposed settlement is the result of revelations in 2018 that the information of up to 87 million people may have been accessed inappropriately by the third-party company, which filed for bankruptcy in 2018. It is the largest recovery ever in a data privacy class action lawsuit and the highest amount Facebook has paid to settle a private class action lawsuit, plaintiffs’ attorneys said in a filing in court Thursday.
Meta has not admitted any wrongdoing and maintains that its users consented to the practices and suffered no actual harm. Meta spokeswoman Dina El-Kassaby Luce said in a statement that the settlement is “in the best interests of its community and shareholders” and that the company has revamped its approach to privacy.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys said about 250 million to 280 million people could be eligible for payments as part of the class action settlement. The amount of individual payments will depend on the number of people who submit valid claims.
“The amount of the award is particularly striking given that Facebook argued that its users consented to the practices at issue, and the group suffered no actual harm,” plaintiffs’ attorneys said. said in the court record.
Facebook’s data leak to Cambridge Analytica has sparked a global backlash and government investigations into the company’s privacy practices over the past few years.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave high level testimonials in 2020 before the Congress and as part of the Federal Trade Commission Privacy Case for which Facebook also accepted a $5 billion fine. The tech giant also agreed to pay $100 million for to resolve The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission says Facebook misled investors about the risks of misusing user data.
Facebook first learned of the leak in 2015, tracing the breach to a University of Cambridge psychology professor who harvested Facebook user data through an app to create a personality test and forwarded it to Cambridge Analytica.
Cambridge Analytica was in the business to create psychological profiles of American voters so campaigns can tailor their placements to different people. The company was used by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign in 2016, then later by former President Donald Trump’s campaign after securing the Republican nomination.
According to a source familiar with the Trump campaign’s data operations, Cambridge Analytica staffers did not use psychological profiling for his campaign, but instead focused on more fundamental goals, such as increasing fundraising by line and reach undecided voters.
Whistleblower Christopher Wylie then exposed the company for its role in Brexit in 2019. He said Cambridge Analytica used Facebook user data to target people on conspiracy theories and convince UK voters to support leaving the European Union. Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was the vice president and American hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer owned much of the company at the time.
The court has set a hearing for March 2, 2023, when a federal judge is expected to give final approval to the settlement.
NPR’s Bobby Allyn contributed reporting.
0 Comments