Meta Agrees to Record $725 Million Settlement Over Facebook Data Scandal
Meta agrees to a $725 million class action settlement to resolve the Cambridge Analytica data harvesting lawsuit. The deal spares top executives, including Mark Zuckerberg, from facing further questioning in court.
Meta agrees to a $725 million settlement to resolve a class action lawsuit related to the Cambridge Analytica data harvesting scandal. The deal emerges four months after Meta proposes a settlement in the Northern District of California, where users initially file the suit four years ago. Over the years, Meta argues that users have no real expectations of privacy on the social network, a claim the judge calls entirely wrong.
The underlying scandal involves the now-defunct political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, which funnels data from tens of millions of Facebook users through a survey app to influence voter behavior. This latest class action settlement adds to previous penalties, including a $5 billion FTC fine, a $100 million SEC penalty, and a smaller U.K. fine. While the lawsuit starts with Cambridge Analytica, it expands to include other third parties that improperly access Facebook user data.
The settlement spares Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other top executives from testifying in court. With the provisional deal in place, Zuckerberg, former COO Sheryl Sandberg, and current COO Javier Olivan avoid an upcoming hearing. Lawyers for the plaintiffs describe the agreement as an extraordinary outcome, noting it represents the largest recovery ever achieved in a data privacy class action lawsuit.