Meta Brass, Shareholders Reportedly Settle $8B Privacy Case
A shareholder lawsuit seeking $8 billion from Facebook for alleged violations of user privacy in connection with Cambridge Analytica was reportedly settled Thursday morning.
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Delaware Court of Chancery Presiding Judge Kathaleen McCormick adjourned the trial, which was set to begin its second day and feature current and former Facebook executives and board members testifying, including director Marc Andreessen, who was supposed to take the stand Tuesday, while CEO Mark Zuckerberg and former COO Sheryl Sandberg were set to testify next week, said a Reuters report.
Neither Facebook parent Meta nor a lawyer for the plaintiffs responded to requests for comment.
The case, originally filed in 2018, claimed leaders of the social media platform cost investors billions of dollars when they mismanaged the fallout surrounding the 2016 Cambridge Analytica scandal. It is alleged the data of nearly 2 billion Facebook users was exposed in the incident.
The FTC issued a $5 billion privacy fine against Facebook for violating consumer privacy in 2019 (see 1910250049).
"The message is clear: when user privacy is treated like an optional checkbox, the bill eventually comes -- and it’s massive," Marco Camisani-Calzolari, a consultant on AI and cybersecurity, said in a LinkedIn post Thursday following the case's dismissal.