The manager is to testify in the Cambridge Analytica case – a settlement could spare him the appearance.
(Photo: Reuters)
San Francisco The Facebook group Meta wants to settle a lawsuit by US users that has been ongoing for years in connection with the Cambridge Analytica data scandal. Attorneys for both sides asked the California court over the weekend to stay the proceedings for 60 days so that they can work out details of a settlement.
In just over three weeks, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and top manager Sheryl Sandberg, who has been responsible for operations for years, are to face several hours of questioning by the plaintiff’s lawyers.
Details of the desired terms of the agreement were not initially made public. A settlement would still have to be cleared by the court for it to take effect.
In the Cambridge Analytica case, an analytics firm had access to some data from millions of Facebook users without their knowledge. The company had published a survey in which some Facebook users took part.
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But thanks to the privacy settings of the time, she also got access to some of her Facebook friends’ information. When this became known, Facebook came under pressure and vowed to improve data protection.
Cambridge Analytica also worked for Donald Trump, who was victorious at the time, for a while during the 2016 presidential election campaign. However, the role of this data in the success was later downplayed.
Legal consequences
The US user lawsuit was filed in 2018. In the event of a defeat in the case, payments of several hundred million dollars would have been possible.
The scandal may also have other legal ramifications: In May, Washington Attorney General Karl Racine filed a lawsuit against Zuckerberg personally. As Facebook boss, Racine argued that he was directly involved in decisions that led to the scandal.
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