It was stated that the class action, which began in 2018 when it was revealed that London-based data analysis firm Cambridge Analytica had allowed up to 87 million users to access their data, will end with a settlement in the court.
“HIGHEST PAYMENT AGREEMENT HE EVER PAYED TO FINALLY FINALLY CLASS ACTION”
Lawyers for the plaintiffs described the proposed settlement as the largest ever reached in a privacy class action lawsuit in the United States and the highest-paying settlement Meta has ever paid to settle a class action lawsuit.
The $725 million settlement that Meta Platforms Inc has agreed to pay to close the class action will be submitted to federal court approval.
In the statement made by Meta, it was stated that no crime was accepted in the settlement for the case in question. The statement stressed that the deal “is in the best interests of our community and our shareholders”.
WHAT HAPPENED?
In April 2018, the data analysis firm Cambridge Analytica, based in London, collected the personal data of Facebook’s 87 million users without permission, to influence the presidential elections in the USA in November 2016 and the European Union (EU) referendum in June 2016 in the UK. The accusations that he was using it for
Facebook Chief Executive (CEO) Mark Zuckerberg testified in the US Senate on April 11, 2018 regarding the company’s data leak scandal.
Regulatory authorities in the USA and Europe launched an investigation about Facebook, and after the developments, the shares of the famous social networking site lost great value.
Later, it was claimed that Facebook shared the personal data of its users with giant companies such as Microsoft, Amazon and Spotify without their consent, and that this amount of data was larger than Facebook announced.
Some companies such as Netflix and Spotify denied that they accessed Facebook users’ data without their consent.
After the scandal emerged, Facebook restricted the amount of information external app developers could see.
Cambridge Analytica, which has nothing to do with the university it is named after, was founded as a British company in 2013 and went bankrupt after the scandals in 2018.
The company, which is close to conservative politicians, has provided services in many countries by evaluating millions of user profiles with the help of an application. These services included allowing Donald Trump’s presidential campaign to run targeted ads designed to discourage or deter voters based on their political leanings.
On the other hand, in 2019, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fined the social networking site $5 billion as a result of the investigation it launched in 2018 for Facebook’s unauthorized and improper use of personal information.
Facebook has also reached a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that includes penalties of $100 million to resolve allegations that it misled investors about the misuse of user data. (AA)