Zuckerberg and his shareholders reach an accord to avert a court battle
In a significant development, a settlement has been reached in the negligence lawsuit filed by Meta shareholders in the U.S. in 2018, following the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The lawsuit, which began on Wednesday and was settled on Thursday, involved claims of negligence and inadequate disclosure regarding the misuse of Facebook users' data by Cambridge Analytica.
The tech figures named in the lawsuit, including Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, Marc Andreessen, Peter Thiel, and Jeffrey Zients, have agreed to the settlement to end the legal proceedings. The specific terms of the settlement, however, have not been disclosed.
The shareholders, acting as a class, sought over $8 billion in damages and interest in the lawsuit. The settlement amount, while not disclosed, is believed to be significantly less than the initial claim.
The trial was initially scheduled to proceed in a Delaware court, but it was cut short due to the settlement. The trial was held in the same court, with Jeffrey Zients being the only one among the named individuals who testified at the opening of the trial on Wednesday.
Cambridge Analytica, a British consulting firm, harvested the personal data of tens of millions of Facebook users without permission, which was then used for political targeting during the 2016 U.S. election and the Brexit referendum. The $5 billion fine imposed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Facebook was partly linked to a 2012 agreement with the government that included Facebook's commitment not to give third parties unauthorized access to users' personal data.
It is important to note that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, was not being sued as a corporation in this lawsuit. The lawsuit specifically targeted the named individuals for their roles in the company.
In a separate development, Sheryl Sandberg, one of the named individuals, announced her departure from Facebook in 2022. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, remains at the helm of the company.
This settlement marks a significant step in the ongoing saga of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, a controversy that has raised questions about data privacy and the role of technology companies in political campaigns. As more details about the settlement become available, we will continue to update this story.
[1] Source: The New York Times [2] Source: The Wall Street Journal [3] Source: Reuters
- The settlement, while the specific terms remain undisclosed, signals a closure for the legal proceedings against tech figures like Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, Marc Andreessen, Peter Thiel, and Jeffrey Zients, stemming from the Cambridge Analytica scandal and its implications on data privacy in the business, politics, and technology sectors.
- The agreed settlement amount, believed to be significantly less than the $8 billion in damages and interest sought by the shareholders, is just one half of the equation, as questions about the role of technology companies in general-news, politics, and finance continue to arise following the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
- As a result of the settlement, Meta's key executives like Sheryl Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg find themselves in a new phase, with Sandberg announcing her departure from Facebook and Zuckerberg continuing to lead the company amidst ongoing concerns about data privacy and tech influence in political campaigns.
