Facebook’s parent company Meta has agreed to pay $725 million (€683 million) to settle a class-action lawsuit filed in 2018 by Facebook users who accuse the company of sharing their personal data with third parties, including Cambridge Analytica, AFP reported.
According to the plaintiffs’ lawyers, the proposed amount is “the most important ever received in an American class action” in the field of data privacy, quoted by News.ro.
Meta has never paid such a large amount to settle a lawsuit against a group.
In exchange for this historic sum, Mark Zuckerberg’s company admitted no wrongdoing.
In the press release of the American giant, it is reported that this agreement is taking place “in the interests of our community and our shareholders.”
This agreement must be approved by a judge in court.
Cambridge Analytica, which has since been shut down, is accused of using the data of 87 million Facebook users without their consent.
This information was used to develop a psychological profile of voters in the 2016 e-campaign and to direct votes in favor of Donald Trump.
Users’ lawyers accused Facebook of misleading them into believing it could control their data, when in fact thousands of people outside the company had access to it.
Billions in exchange for extinguishing the scandal
The American giant paid billions of dollars to settle the Cambridge Analytica scandal – the most important in its history.
In July 2019, US competition authorities fined Facebook five billion dollars for “deceiving” its users.
The group signed a $100 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) because it withheld information from its investors.
Other lawsuits related to the scandal – in the states of Delaware and Washington, DC – are still pending.
Since the outbreak of the scandal, the social network has changed its privacy policy.
The American giant covered up access to user data of several thousand applications suspected of abusing them.
Meta made it easier for Internet users to calibrate limits on the sharing of personal information. (News.ro)
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Source: Hot News
Mary Robinson is a renowned journalist in the field of Automobile. She currently works as a writer at 247 news reel. With a keen eye for detail and a passion for all things Automotive, Mary’s writing provides readers with in-depth analysis and unique perspectives on the latest developments in the field.