SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook’s parent company has agreed to pay $725 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the world’s largest social media platform allowed the disclosure of millions of users’ personal information his Cambridge Analytica, a company that supported Donald Trump’s successful presidential campaign. . in 2016.
The terms of the settlement reached by Meta Platforms, the holding company of Facebook and Instagram, were revealed in court documents filed last Thursday. It still has to be approved by a judge in a federal court hearing in San Francisco set for March.
The case stems from revelations in 2018 that Cambridge Analytica, a company linked to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon, paid a Facebook app developer to access the personal information of some 87 million users of the platform. This data was then used to target American voters during the 2016 campaign, which culminated in the election of Trump as the 45th president.
The outcry over the revelations led to a sad Zuckerberg being grilled by US lawmakers during a high-profile congressional hearing and prompted people to delete their Facebook accounts. Even though Facebook’s growth has stagnated as more people connect and enjoy rival services like TikTok, the social network still boasts about 2 billion users worldwide, including nearly 200 million in the United States and Canada.
The lawsuit, which sought to be certified as a class action representing Facebook users, said the privacy breach demonstrated that Facebook is a “data brokerage and surveillance firm” as well as a social network.
The two sides reached a tentative settlement agreement in August, just weeks before a Sept. 20 deadline for Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his longtime chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, to submit submissions.
The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company said in a statement Friday that it is pursuing a settlement because it is in the best interest of the community and its shareholders.
“Over the past three years, we’ve renewed our approach to privacy and implemented a comprehensive privacy program,” spokeswoman Dina El-Kassaby Luce said. “We look forward to continuing to build services that people love and trust, with privacy at the forefront.”
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