Meta to settle Cambridge Analytica scandal case for $725m

Do you remember Cambridge Analytica Scandal case in which Facebook leaked data of millions of users without their consent? In 2018, Facebook allowed British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica to access data of as many as 87 million users. Since then Facebook was facing legal allegations and now finally after soo many years, the social media company has agreed to pay  $725 million to resolve a class-action lawsuit. No social media company can allow third parties to access users personal information without their consent.

This settlement was disclosed in court hearing few days back which means finally the long running lawsuit will come to and end. Lawyers connected to this matter called this settlement one of the largest one ever made for US data privacy class action. Even this is the biggest amount that Meta has ever paid to resolve the class action lawsuit.

Cambridge Analytica scandal case Comes to an End

However, one thing that should be noted here is that Meta did not admit it did anything wrong as a part of settlement. and even the federal judge in San Francisco approved it. While giving the statement on this matter, the company said:

 “Settling was in the best interest of our community and shareholders. Over the last three years we revamped our approach to privacy and implemented a comprehensive privacy program,” 

Cambridge Analytica worked for Donald Trump’s successful presidential campaign in 2016. By gaining access to the personal data of Facebook accounts, it used it for the purposes of voter profiling and targeting.

Cambridge Analytica obtained that information without users’ consent from a researcher who had been allowed by Facebook to deploy an app on its social media network that harvested data from millions of its users.

Soon this issue was highlighted and Mark Zuckergerb has to face the law suits as a part of government investigations into its privacy practices. In 2019,Facebook agreed to pay $5 billion to resolve a Federal Trade Commission probe into its privacy practices and $100 million to settle US Securities and Exchange Commission claims that it misled investors about the misuse of users’ data.

Anyway, the latest settlement has resolved the claims on Facebook violations regarding federal and state laws by allowing app developers and business partners gather users’ personal data without their consent.

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