An $8 billion class action lawsuit against Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and company leaders began on Wednesday, stemming from the 2018 Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal. Investors claim that Meta did not fully disclose the risks of their personal information being misused by the consulting firm.
The lawsuit alleges that Meta repeatedly violated a 2012 consent order with the Federal Trade Commission, agreeing to stop collecting and sharing user data without consent. Facebook later sold user data to commercial partners in direct violation of this order.
The case comes after Facebook agreed to pay a $5.1 billion penalty to settle FTC charges and faced significant fines in Europe. Now, shareholders want Zuckerberg and others to reimburse Meta for the FTC fine and other legal costs, which they estimate total more than $8 billion.
Experts testified that Facebook’s privacy disclosures were misleading, while former board member Jeffrey Zients said that settling with the FTC was better than facing potential penalties. The case is expected to run through late next week, including testimony from Zuckerberg and former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.
Meta had hoped the Supreme Court would dismiss the case, but their appeal was denied, allowing the lawsuit to proceed.
Source: https://apnews.com/article/meta-privacy-cambridge-analytica-zuckerberg-4942257082030772915591d336c6a599