The American giant Meta, owner of Facebook, has agreed to pay 725 million dollars to end the lawsuit initiated in 2018 seeking damages from the social network accused of having allowed third parties, including the company Cambridge Analytica, to have access to private user data. .
“The $725 million proposed in the settlement is the highest amount ever reached in a private data class action lawsuit and ever paid by Facebook to end” such lawsuits, defense attorneys said in a court document filed in a California court. San Francisco. released Thursday night.
Facebook has not admitted to any wrongdoing under the terms of this settlement that has not yet been approved by a judge in this court. The conclusion of a pre-agreement was announced last August, without disclosing the amount or terms of this agreement at that time.
privacy violation
It came as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and CEO Sheryl Sandberg, who announced her resignation in June after 14 years with the company, were due to testify in court in September in connection with the scandal.
In a procedure initiated in 2018, Facebook users accused the social network of having violated privacy protection regulations by sharing their data with third parties, including the firm Cambridge Analytica, linked to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. .
Cambridge Analytica, which has since closed, had collected and used, without their consent, the personal data of 87 million Facebook users, to whom the platform had given them access. This information would have been used to develop software used to guide the vote of US voters in favor of Donald Trump.
In July 2019, federal authorities fined Facebook $5 billion for “misleading” its users and imposed independent oversight of its handling of personal data.
Since the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke, Facebook has removed access to its data from thousands of apps suspected of abusing it. The company also restricted the amount of information available to developers in general and made it easier for users to calibrate restrictions on sharing personal data.
Source: BFM TV
