Meta Boss Sued For Cambridge Analytica Scandal, Help Donald Trump Win Election

JAKARTA - Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is again facing a lawsuit. This time he was sued by District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine for his alleged role in the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal.

Zuckerberg is accused of allowing political consultancy Cambridge Analytica to harvest the personal data of millions of Americans during the 2016 election cycle without their consent.

In addition, he is also alleged to have the ability to control day-to-day operations and assist Donald Trump's election campaign.

"This lawsuit is not only justified, but necessary and sends a message that corporate leaders, including the chief executive, will be held accountable for their actions."

Previously, Racine had sued Meta under the District of Columbia Consumer Protection Procedure Act. Such actions make individuals liable for violations if they knew about them at the time.

However, the lawsuit against Zuckerberg is not without evidence but includes hundreds of thousands of documents, including depositions from employees and whistleblowers that have been collected as part of the ongoing litigation against Meta.

“Since filing our landmark lawsuit against Facebook, my office has fought tooth and nail against the company's characteristic attempts to refuse to produce documents and instead thwart our lawsuit. We have persisted and have followed the evidence that was right for Zuckerberg," said Racine.

Racine also alleged that the Cambridge Analytica scandal was the result of Zuckerberg's own desire to open up Facebook to third-party developers.

With this strategy, according to Racine, there will be a risk of data leakage. In an email discussing the state leak, Zuckerberg said there was a clear risk on the advertiser's side.

The lawsuit also says that since 2012, where Zuckerberg had served as chairman of Facebook's board, he controlled about 60 percent of the voting stock.

Reporting The Guardian, Tuesday, May 24, Cambridge Analytica has been hired by the Trump 2016 election campaign team, and worse has gained access to the personal data of 50 million Facebook users.

The company claims the information can be used to identify different types of voters and influence their behavior. In 2019 Facebook was fined $5 billion by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for violating consumer privacy.