Key points:

  • Meta, Facebook’s parent company will pay $725 million to put the dust on a class action lawsuit that claimed that the tech giant intentionally leaked user data to third parties. 
  • Facebook was greeted by a class action lawsuit in 2018 after the social media giant stated that it had shared the information of over 87 million users with Cambridge Analytica.
  • Soon after, Cambridge Analytica ceased to operate after allegations were made against the company for using data shared by Facebook to influence political campaigns. 

Four years after a class action lawsuit was filed against it. Facebook‘s parent company, Meta has agreed to pay $725 million to settle the case once and for all. A class action lawsuit was filed against Facebook after the firm revealed that it had shared the data of more than 87 million users with third parties. 

Keller Rohrback L.L.P, the company that was fighting the case on behalf of the plaintiffs said that this is a huge win for the masses. Further, the company stated that this is possibly the largest recovery achieved in data privacy class action and arguably the largest sum Facebook has ever paid to settle a private class action. 

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Facebook admits sharing user information, slapped with data privacy class action

 A class action lawsuit was initiated after Facebook admitted that it had inappropriately shared data of more than 87 million users with Cambridge Analytica, a consultancy affiliated with the 2016 presidential campaign of US President Donald Trump, a class action lawsuit was initiated.

The scope of the action was expanded to include Facebook’s entire data-sharing policies. According to the legal firm behind the case, the plaintiffs claimed that Facebook had “given multiple third parties access to their Facebook content and information without their authorization and that Facebook failed to appropriately oversee the third parties’ access to, and use of, that information.”

Judges in the Northern District of California who are in charge of the case must now sanction the settlement.

A Meta spokesperson said that a settlement was in the best interest of the shareholders and community. Over the last three years, the company has made significant modifications to their privacy policies and also launched an extensive privacy program. 

Facebook has not admitted to doing anything out of the line as part of the settlement. 

What happened to Cambridge Analytica?

Cambridge Analytica closed down soon after the news broke out pertaining to Facebook’s role in sharing user data with external parties. Allegations were made against Cambridge Analytica for using the information provided by Facebook to influence political campaigns. 

Naturally, this scandal was met with worldwide outrage and regulators from around the world demanded thorough scrutiny of Facebook’s data privacy policies and practices. 

Following the revelations, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into Facebook due to suspicions that the social media company had disregarded the terms of an earlier agreement with the organisation, which called for it to clearly notify users when their data was shared with external parties.

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