Meta will pay 725 million to end the largest lawsuit in history

A few years ago, Facebook was accused of inappropriately sharing the data of 87 million users of the platform with the consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. This serious case of privacy infringement is still alive today, despite the fact that 4 years have passed. And it is that, now Meta has agreed to pay $725 million to solve the dispute with Cambridge Analytica.

The biggest scandal in the history of Mark Zuckerberg’s companyIt is undoubtedly when it became known that it shared the information of millions of users with third-party companies. The main beneficiary was Cambridge Analyticaa political consultant of British origin who was able to access the information from 87 million users. This data was deemed to have been sold to said consultancy and used to influence presidential elections and along with all this, other companies were able to access them without the consent of those affected. Taking all this into account, the largest class action lawsuit ever made in the United States.

Meta agreed to pay more than $5 billion in the Cambridge Analytica case

The privacy breach of 87 million users was a severe blow to Facebook in 2018. This opened the ban on a time of mistrust of social networks and Mark Zuckerberg was questioned by the US Congress. And it is that, this plan to sell user data to the Cambridge Analytica consultancy and other companies, was accused of being the reason for political manipulations. It is argued that they used this method to support Trump in his 2016 campaign. In addition, it has been used during the Brexit in the United Kingdom or with Mauricio Macri in Argentina.

All of this put enormous pressure on Meta, which agreed to pay more than 5,000 million dollars in 2019, following an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission. Besides, he didn’t end there, since he also agreed to pay 100 million dollars to settle the claims of the United States Stock Exchange Commission. Also note that he paid $644,000 in UK fines, a derisory number. This would have been much higher if the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) had been in force.

Finally, Meta resolves the lawsuit with a payment of 725 million

After all those promises to pay billions for the investigation, the claims, the fines and the lawsuits, in the end it all ends now. And it is that, 3 years later and now calling itself Meta, the company will end this long lawsuit in the Cambridge Analytica case. For this, you will have to pay nothing less than 725 million dollars. With this last payment, he can finally finish this case where he was accused of violating the privacy of users, selling data and political manipulation.

Furthermore, this sum is about the most money Meta has paid for a lawsuit in its entire history. After knowing all this, Cambridge Analytica was forced to close. However, many more similar consultancies dedicated to political manipulation have sprung up.