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Facebook to settle Cambridge Analytica privacy suit

August 28, 2022

The scandal began in 2018 when it was revealed Cambridge Analytica had paid a Facebook app developer for user data. Facebook has requested 60 days to finalize the settlement agreement.

https://p.dw.com/p/4G9Gi
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in front of a lock symbol
Meta has reached a preliminary settlement in the lawsuit over a major privacy breach. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, pictured, was due to give a deposition in late SeptemberImage: Josh Edelson/AFP

Facebook parent company Meta Platforms has reached a tentative settlement in a lawsuit seeking damages for allowing third parties, including British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, access to user data.

According to a document filed in a San Francisco court on Friday, Meta agreed to a "draft agreement in principle" and requested 60 days stay of the action for its finalization.

The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and board member and former chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg had been given a September 20 deadline to submit to depositions in the final phase of pre-trial evidence gathering.

What is the case about?

In 2018, it came to light that Cambridge Analytica had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal data of tens of millions of Facebook users. The data was used to target voters during Donald Trump's victorious 2016 campaign for the US presidency.

Following the revelations, Zuckerberg submitted to a congressional hearing on the data sharing scandal.

The lawsuit maintains that the breach in privacy shows that Facebook is a "data broker and surveillance firm" and not just a social network.

Facebook has around 2 billion users worldwide.

Late last month, the tech giant posted its first revenue drop in its history.

sdi/kb (AP, AFP)