Meta settles Cambridge Analytica lawsuit for $725 million

Meta settles for 683 million euros in an American class action lawsuit surrounding the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal. The Facebook parent company is alleged to have illegally shared the data of 87 million users with Cambridge Analytica.

With the settlement, Meta admits no guilt. The company says in a statement to Bloomberg: “We reached the settlement because it is what is best for our community and shareholders.” In addition, a renewed privacy policy has been applied in recent years ‘with privacy in the foreground’. Prosecutors say it is “the largest settlement in a data privacy case and the most Facebook has ever had to pay in a class action lawsuit,” according to a report. court documents published by Reuters.

The lawsuit was filed in 2018 after it became known that the British Cambridge Analytica was able to collect data from millions of Facebook users, including in order to subsequently show targeted political advertisements. Donald Trump is said to have used the company’s services for his presidential campaign to win voters via Facebook.

Meta appeared to have consented to the collection of user data necessary for such advertisements, according to prosecutors. This data was collected through a Facebook app, without the consent of the victims. Meta was therefore previously fined 5 billion dollars by the American FTC.