Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc has agreed to pay $725 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging the company allowed third parties to access personal information.
An agreement has reach between Facebook and the British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica to resolve a long-running lawsuit that was prompte by revelations in 2018 that Facebook had allowed the UK-based firm to obtain the data of as many as 87 million of its users with the help of Facebook.
A large settlement has proposed in a class action lawsuit in the US filed by plaintiffs and Meta has agree to pay the most they have ever paid in settling a class action lawsuit. According to attorneys for plaintiffs, the agreed settlement is the largest ever in a US data privacy case.
“By reaching this historic settlement, the plaintiff class as a whole will receive critical relief in this complex and novel privacy case,” Derek Loeser and Lesley Weaver, the lead attorneys for the plaintiff class, announced in a joint statement.
A federal judge in San Francisco must approve the settlement, which does not include Facebook owner Meta admitting any wrongdoing. A statement from the company said that the settlement was “in the best interests of our community and shareholders ”.
Facebook owner Meta approach to privacy
“The last three years have seen us revamp our approach to privacy and develop an extensive privacy program,” Facebook owner Meta said.
It is now defunct, but Cambridge Analytica operated for Donald Trump’s successful presidential campaign in 2016, gaining access to millions of Facebook accounts to target and profile voters.
Researchers given permission by Facebook to deploy apps on the social network that harvested data from millions of users, and Cambridge Analytica obtained that information without their consent.
There have been government investigations into Cambridge Analytica’s privacy practices since the scandal broke, lawsuits and a high-profile US congressional hearing at which Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg grilled by legislators about the company’s privacy practices.
Facebook settled US Securities and Exchange Commission claims that it misled investors about the misuse of users’ data by paying $5 billion to resolve a Federal Trade Commission investigation into its privacy practices.
State attorneys general are investigating the company, and the DC attorney general is suing.
In Thursday’s settlement, Facebook agreed to settle claims that it harvested user data without consent at a widespread level without user consent while violating various federal and state laws.
In the lawsuit, the users’ lawyers alleged that Facebook misled them into believing they could keep control over personal data when, in fact, it let thousands of outsiders access it.
Users sharing information on social media with friends have no legitimate privacy interest, according to Facebook. However, US District Judge Vince Chhabria called that view “so wrong” and largely allowed the case to proceed in 2019.
