Facebook settles Cambridge Analytica class action for undisclosed amount
- Reference: 1661754545
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/08/29/facebook_settles_cambridge_analytica_lawsuit/
- Source link:
A [1]filing [PDF] dated August 26 requested that judge Vince Chhabria put the class action on hold for sixty days while parties finalize a written settlement. The amount of the settlement on the four-year-old lawsuit remains undisclosed.
The lawsuit, brought by a group of users, alleges that UK-based Cambridge Analytica created a Facebook app called "This Is Your Digital Life" that was downloaded 300,000 times and harvested users' data. The app also accessed data describing users' Facebook Friends, potentially accessing personal information of 80 million-plus users.
[2]
All that data is alleged to have been used during the USA's 2016 Presidential election, campaigners for Brexit, and by Russian misinformation operatives.
[3]
[4]
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was hauled in to [5]testify before US Congress to explain how his company had enabled data harvesting and why it had not policed it properly.
Zuck's 2018 appearance in Congress was [6]rather odd – the CEO [7]answered several questions about the business he founded with bland comments along the lines of "I do not recall."
[8]Meta offers $37.5m to settle location tracking lawsuit
[9]Amazon has repackaged surveillance capitalism as reality TV
[10]Zuckerberg: Yes, Facebook kept Hunter Biden's laptop under wraps
[11]Metaverse progress update: Some VR headset prototypes nowhere near shipping
The fallout for Facebook from the [12]revelations includes the loss of two previous privacy cases, a $5 billion penalty levied by the US Federal Trade Commission, and a $630,000 [13]fine levied by UK authorities .
By settling the lawsuit, Zuckerberg and soon-to-be-former COO [14]Sheryl Sandberg avoid having to appear at their September 20 scheduled depositions.
[15]
"It is a measure of how desperate Zuckerberg is to avoid answering questions about Facebook's cover-up of the Cambridge Analytica data breach that Facebook has settled this case just days away from him being cross-examined under oath for six hours," [16]stated Carole Cadwalladr, the journalist who investigated and reported on Facebook's entanglement with Cambridge Analytica.
Cadwalladr argued the settlement was proof Facebook was "prepared to pay almost any sum of money" to spare its executives from taking the stand – and likely embarrassing themselves and further damaging whatever smidgen of positive reputation Meta/Facebook possesses after [17]whistleblower Frances Haugen dished on how it blithely ignores the harm it does to users. Not to mention various other scandals that seem always to produce an apology and promise to do better … until the next scandal reveals fresh misdeeds.
The Register has reached out to Meta for comment and will report back if there is a substantial reply. ®
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[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2022/08/29/pacer_facebok_setttlement.pdf
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YwyONgXtlgD7TZvklq9-@QAAANY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YwyONgXtlgD7TZvklq9-@QAAANY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YwyONgXtlgD7TZvklq9-@QAAANY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2018/04/11/zuckerberg_testimony/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2018/04/11/zuckerberg_testimony/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2018/04/11/mark_zuckerberg_house_congress_facebook/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/23/meta_location_lawsuit_settlement_offer/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/24/amazon_ring_surveillance/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/26/facebook_joe_rogan/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/20/meta_prototype_vr/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2018/03/18/facebook_confirms_cambridge_analytica_stole_its_data_its_a_plot_claims_former_director/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2018/10/25/ico_fines_facebook_500k_over_cambridge_analytica/
[14] https://www.facebook.com/sheryl/posts/pfbid0zqcUx8F4yHqgKipDxLZDhXSRNQNXFJtVkiQhisHRp2an5U5DFDnVfUTwmJ6mfyYCl
[15] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YwyONgXtlgD7TZvklq9-@QAAANY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[16] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/aug/27/facebook-cambridge-analytica-data-breach-lawsuit-ends-in-11th-hour-settlement?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/05/facebook_whisteblower_congress/
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The law is an unwieldy beast. The challenge would be balancing the benefits of informing the public with the benefits of individuals being able to reach a meaningful settlement in the face of deep pocketed corporations and legal fees nibbling at any potential settlement.
If the state funded all individual legal actions then that too would likely result in the need to persuade the state to pursue action, as well as the largest corporations being able to outspend the state. Effectively, creating additional barriers before a case even opens.
It is a measure of how desperate Zuckerberg is to avoid answering questions
No... It's the Meta lawyers knowing he will shoot himself and the company in the foot again. I get the feeling Zuck is a sociopath, and welcomes his moment in the spotlight.
Re: It is a measure of how desperate Zuckerberg is to avoid answering questions
You could tell from the footage of his grilling before congress that Zuckerberg very much does not like being questioned. A lot of memes were circulated making fun of his bland, robotic demeanour: the man was sweating like warm Emmental, clearly rigid with fear that he would be publicly exposed and held to account.
Settled on confidential terms - likely without an admission of guilt
That is the problem with civil litigation.
Where is the public prosecutor on this? Anyone?
I understand that the proof threshold is greater (beyond reasonable doubt rather than preponderance of the evidence/balance of probabilities), but a settlement should be available in full to a public prosecutor to decide whether there is merit for a criminal case.
Wouldn't it be nice if a judge could at some point during a trial determine that no more settlement was permitted?
Hard to understand how a class action can be settled confidentially.
Do the class members all settle without knowing what they settled for?
> Do the class members all settle without knowing what they settled for?
Nah, the lawyers decide they get offered enough money to drop the case. It's as simple as that.
"prepared to pay almost any sum of money"
Superfluous "almost" there old chap
"to explain how his company had enabled data harvesting and why it had not policed hidden it properly."
Here, fixed it for you.
Is this another U-Turn?
" All that data is alleged to have been used during the USA's 2016 Presidential election, campaigners for Brexit, and by Russian misinformation operatives. "
But all the politicians involved in these related events are still saying that there was no Russian misinformation because the election and voting was all completely valid choices by citizens in all Facebook influenced countries so will we be told that consumer lawsuits now Remainer lawsuits?
I hate this habit of settling things or of court. There's good reasons why courts are public, at least these settlements should be public as well.