Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has agreed to settle a $725 million class action lawsuit that claimed that it had improperly shared users' information with Cambridge Analytica. CA was a data analytics firm used by the Trump campaign to allegedly win the 2016 US Presidential elections.
The proposed settlement has come as a result of the 2018 revelations that information of up to 87 million people may have been improperly accessed by a third-party firm, with the assistance and compliance of Facebook. Cambridge Analytica filed for bankruptcy in 2018.
The plaintiffs' attorneys stated in a court filing on Thursday that this is the biggest recovery ever in a data privacy class action and the most Facebook has paid to resolve a private class action.
Cambridge Analytica was a political consulting firm that was known for its use of data analytics and targeted advertising in political campaigns. The firm gained notoriety in 2018 when it was revealed that it had improperly obtained the personal data of millions of Facebook users and used it to target political ads during the 2016 United States presidential election.
This revelation led to widespread public outrage and a number of investigations and legal proceedings, including a class-action lawsuit.
Meta said that it had not committed any wrongdoing and maintained that its users had consented to the data-sharing practices. It also maintained that the users had suffered no actual damage.
According to the plaintiffs' attorneys, between 250 million and 280 million people could receive money as part of the class action settlement.
The number of people who submit legitimate claims will determine the size of the individual rewards. The settlement is anticipated to receive final approval from a federal judge during a hearing scheduled for March 2, 2023, according to the court.
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