Facebook agrees to settle Cambridge Analytica lawsuit alleging millions of users' data exposed:
Facebook has agreed to settle a four-year federal lawsuit seeking damages for letting third parties, including Cambridge Analytica, access private user data, according to court filings.
The settlement – the terms of which have not been disclosed by Meta Platforms, the social media giant's parent company – brings closure to a long-running case alleging that Facebook violated consumer privacy laws by sharing millions of users' data with third parties, including the now-defunct British firm connected with Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
[...] The agreement was reached before a 20 September deadline for Meta CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to submit pre-trial depositions in the case.
Now-former COO Sheryl Sandberg, who announced she is leaving the company after 14 years earlier this year, also was likely to be deposed.
[...] The lawsuit asserted Facebook is both a "data broker and surveillance firm" as well as a social network.
A spokesperson for Facebook told The Independent that the company does not have a comment at this time.
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Tomorrow is the day that Meta expected would finally end its Cambridge Analytica woes. That's when a US district court in California is scheduled to preliminarily approve a $725 million settlement agreement that Meta believed would release the company of all related claims.
However, just days before Meta could reach that seeming finish line, the state of New Mexico has moved to intervene. In a court filing yesterday, New Mexico argued that Meta might be interpreting its settlement agreement wrong and claimed that, for New Mexico citizens, the Cambridge Analytica scandal is far from resolved.
To clarify whether Meta's agreement releases New Mexico's and others' claims and to ensure that the California court doesn't "inadvertently or otherwise release claims" raised in New Mexico's still-pending parallel action against Meta, New Mexico's attorneys have asked to be heard "briefly" at tomorrow's hearing.
[...]
[Update: A Meta spokesperson told Ars, "The attorneys representing New Mexico misstated our position, which we will explain to the Court."]
Previously:
Meta Settles Cambridge Analytica Scandal Case for $725m
Facebook Agrees to Settle Cambridge Analytica Lawsuit
Facebook Paid FTC $4.9B More than Required to Shield Zuckerberg, Lawsuit Alleges
Facebook Sued Over Cambridge Analytica Data Scandal
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 29 2022, @10:50PM
Discovery can ruin your whole day, best to keep dirty laundry well hidden. Trump and the DOJ will settle too, for the same reasons
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 30 2022, @01:38AM
Facebook has agreed to settle a four-year federal lawsuit seeking damages
No jail time for the rich.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by ilsa on Tuesday August 30 2022, @03:17PM
This is bullshit. Why are the accepting a settlement? I'm sure it's full of the usual crap like "No admittance of wrongdoing" blah blah too.
Congratulations USA, you've allowed a company to cause substantial material harm to the entire freaking country and you're just giving them a slap on the wrist.
This doesn't bode well for how things will go WRT Trump.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by HammeredGlass on Tuesday August 30 2022, @04:46PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZmcyHpG31A [youtube.com]