District Of Columbia Attorney General Sues Mark Zuckerberg Over Facebook-Cambridge Analytica Scandal

Attorney General Karl Racine, sues Facebook. (photo: twitter @AGKarlRacine)

JAKARTA - District Attorney General for Columbia, Karl Racine, has sued Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the Cambridge Analytica Facebook scandal. The lawsuit alleges that Zuckerberg was "directly responsible" for creating lax privacy rules that allowed consulting firms to harvest user data without consent, then they failed to promptly notify users and ensure the data was deleted.

Racine's underlying allegations have not changed since an initial filing last year. The lawsuit includes an incident in which Cambridge University professor Aleksandr Kogan collected personal information from about 270,000 Facebook users plus data from friends who did not consent to the collection.

Kogan provided the information to parent company Cambridge Analytica, which worked on former President Donald Trump's campaign, in 2015. The details only became known when the incident leaked in 2018, and Zuckerberg publicly accepted the responsibility.

DC Attorney General @AGKarlRacine is suing Mark Zuckerberg for his role in @Facebook's privacy scandals, including the failures leading to the Cambridge Analytica. https://t.co/uH5KpdPop6

— Rohit Chopra (@chopracfpb) May 23, 2022

Racine alleges that Zuckerberg violated the Consumer Protection Procedures Act by misleading Facebook users about the privacy of their data and failing to disclose the breach.

“Zuckerberg isn't just the main character on Facebook; he is personally involved in nearly every major decision the company makes, and the extent of his influence is no secret," the lawsuit reads. "Within Facebook, Zuckerberg directly oversees product development and engineering work that exposes consumer data to misuse."

Racine originally sued Meta (then known as Facebook) in 2018, and the case continues. But a judge said in March that he had waited too long to add Zuckerberg as a party to the lawsuit.

Racine's office told The Washington Post that the new lawsuit is based on documents obtained during Facebook's litigation, which strengthen the case against Zuckerberg.

“This unprecedented security breach exposed tens of millions of Americans' personal information, and Mr. Zuckerberg allowed years of efforts to mislead users about the extent of Facebook's misbehavior," Racine said in a statement reported by the Washington Post.

"This lawsuit is not only justified, but necessary, and sends a message that corporate leaders, including the CEO, will be held accountable for their actions," he added, as quoted by The Verge.