Meta agrees $725 million to settle a case against Cambridge Analytica

Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has agreed $725 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that has been ongoing for years. Disclosures in 2018The company shared user data to Cambridge Analytica, a consulting firm that was being used to run political advertising.

Settlementwhich can be read in full hereThen there’s the Through Reuters) does not include an admission of wrongdoing on Meta’s part, and will still have to be approved by federal judges in the Northern District of California, reports CNBC. According to the settlement document, the $725 million payment is the largest ever in a class action data privacy case and the largest amount Facebook has ever paid for a class action lawsuit.

The original lawsuit was filed by Cambridge Analytica scandalFacebook shared data from about 87million users (collected via personality-testing app, “This Is Your Digital Life”) to the consulting firm. The scandal was notable not only because of its revelations regarding Facebook’s lax privacy policies but also because it revealed that Cambridge Analytica was involved in Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Later, the class action lawsuit was expanded so that it included other cases where Facebook shared user data without proper consent.

The law firm representing the plaintiffs was Derek Loeser, and Leslie Weaver, Keller Rohrback LLP. press release.

In response to the news, a Meta Tell CNBCWe sought settlement because it was in the best interests of our shareholders and our community. We have restructured our privacy approach and implemented a comprehensive privacy program over the past three-years.

The settlement states that Meta has “purposefully altered” its data sharing practices since the 2018 data breach. It no longer allows third parties to access the data about users.