Meta Pays IDR 11.3 Trillion to Resolve Class Action Lawsuit Case Cambridge Analytica

Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, pay mhal to settle the class action lawsuit case. (photo: Instagram @zuck)

JAKARTA -Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc has agreed to pay $725 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging the social media giant allowed third parties, including Cambridge Analytica, to access users' personal information.

The proposed settlement, disclosed in a court action late Thursday, December 23, would settle a long-running lawsuit sparked by a 2018 disclosure that Facebook had allowed British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica to access the data of some 87 million users.

Lawyers for plaintiffs called the proposed settlement the largest ever reached in a US data privacy class action lawsuit and the largest amount Meta has ever paid to settle a class action lawsuit.

"This historic settlement will provide significant relief for class action in this new and complex privacy case," the lead plaintiffs' attorneys, Derek Loeser and Lesley Weaver, said in a joint statement to Reuters.

Meta did not admit guilt as part of the settlement, which was subject to approval by a federal judge in San Francisco. The company said in a statement that the settlement is "in the best interest of our community and shareholders."

"Over the last three years we changed our approach to privacy and implemented a comprehensive privacy program," Meta said, as quoted by Reuters.

Cambridge Analytica, now defunct, worked for Donald Trump's successful presidential campaign in 2016, and gained access to personal information from millions of Facebook accounts for the purposes of profiling and targeting voters.

Cambridge Analytica obtained the information without user consent from a researcher who has been authorized by Facebook to deploy applications on its social media network that harvest data from millions of its users.

The ensuing Cambridge Analytica scandal sparked a government investigation into privacy practices, lawsuits, and the infamous US congressional hearing in which Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg was vilified by lawmakers.

In 2019, Facebook agreed to pay $5 billion to settle a Federal Trade Commission investigation of its privacy practices and $100 million to settle claims by the US Securities and Exchange Commission that misled investors about misuse of user data.

An investigation by the state attorney general is also ongoing, and Facebook is fighting a lawsuit by the Washington, D.C. attorney general.

Last Thursday's settlement resolved claims by Facebook users that the company violated various federal and state laws by allowing app developers and business partners to harvest their personal data without their broad consent.

Lawyers for users allege that Facebook misled them into thinking they could maintain control of personal data, when in fact Facebook allowed thousands of outsiders it liked to gain access.

Facebook argues that its users have no legitimate privacy interest in the information they share with friends on social media. But US District Judge Vince Chhabria called that view "grossly wrong" and in 2019 largely allowed the case to proceed.

The settlement covers an estimated 250 to 280 million Facebook users, according to court filings Thursday. How much an individual user receives will depend on how many people make valid claims for their share of the settlement. Lawyers for the plaintiffs said they plan to ask the judge to give them up to 25% of the settlement as attorneys' fees, the equivalent of USD 181 million (IDR 2.8 trillion).