Facebook owner pays $1.1bn to settle Cambridge Analytica case

The owner of Facebook has agreed to pay $1.08bn to settle legal action related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Meta says it has overhauled its approach to privacy over the past three years. Picture: AFP

The owner of Facebook has agreed to pay $US725m ($1.08bn) to settle legal action related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The figure, set to be the largest achieved in an American data privacy class action, is intended to draw a line under claims the social media group allowed third parties to access users’ personal information.

Meta, which did not admit wrongdoing, said it was “in the best interest of our community and shareholders”.

It would be the biggest sum that the company, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, had paid out in a lawsuit.

Cambridge Analytica, a ­London-based political consulting firm, allegedly used Facebook in an attempt to influence the outcome of the 2016 US presidential election and Britain’s European Union referendum by using the personal data of millions of people.

The class action in the US is said to relate to up to 280 million people, all Facebook users in the US during the relevant period, between 2007 and this year.

It was expanded to include third parties other than Cambridge Analytica that may have inappropriately used Facebook data.

The scandal came to light in 2018, when it was found that the now-defunct firm had worked for Republican Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and had used personal information from millions of American ­Facebook accounts for the purposes of voter profiling and ­targeting.

Facebook paid a £500,000 fine to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the British data regulator, after it failed to protect users’ personal information.

In 2019, Facebook agreed to pay $US5bn to resolve an investigation into its privacy practices by the US Federal Trade Commission and also has paid $US100m to US financial regulators to settle claims it misled ­investors about the misuse of users’ data.

The latest proposed settlement comes as Meta is battling slowing growth, a downturn in digital advertising and fierce competition from rivals. A further hearing on the settlement is due to take place in March. Meta said it had overhauled its approach to privacy over the past three years.

The Times