Meta To Settle Cambridge Analytica Lawsuit For ₹5,988 Crore

Meta had accessed the private data of 670 lakh Facebook users. Thus California court fined the company for $725 million. Meta has agreed to the settlement.

Meta, Facebook’s parent, reached a settlement worth $725 million Friday to end a class action lawsuit stemming from the Cambridge Analytica data scam. 

Facebook was able to access the private data of 67 million Facebook users, including Indians. This information was used to profile Facebook users in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

On behalf of Facebook users who were affected by Meta’s partnership, the lawsuit was filed in California. 

“After four years of intense litigation, the plaintiffs have reached an extraordinary result for the class. 

The settlement proposed at $725,000,000 represents the largest recovery in a class action relating to data privacy and the highest amount that Facebook has paid to settle a private class action.” reads the lawsuit.

According to the plaintiffs’ lawyers, the amount of the settlement is striking because Facebook claimed that its users consented and that no actual damages were suffered by the class.

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They stated that although the plaintiffs disagree with these descriptions, they acknowledge the risks they took in this complex and novel case.”

Since the case began, Facebook has stopped allowing third parties access to user data through their friends. 

“Facebook has meaningfully increased its ability to monitor and restrict how third parties acquire and utilize Facebook users’ information and created more robust tools to inform users about what information Facebook collects about them.”

Meta announced on Thursday that it had removed over 19.52 Million pieces of content from 13 policies of Facebook and more than 3.39 Million pieces of content from 12 policies of Instagram in November in India. 

Facebook received 889 complaints through India’s grievance mechanism between November 1 and 30, and said that it offered tools to users to solve their problems in 511 cases.

These include pre-established channels for reporting content for specific violations. They also have a self-remediation flow where they can download data. 

There are avenues to address account hacking issues, according to Meta’s monthly report in compliance to the IT (Intermediary Guidelines & Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021.