Mark Zuckerberg agrees to settle multibillion-dollar shareholder lawsuit
Meta shareholders had alleged that Mark Zuckerberg’s actions contributed to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which data from millions of Facebook users was improperly accessed and used by a political consulting firm, that worked for president Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign.
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On July 17, Meta Platforms co-founder Mark Zuckerberg agreed to settle a multibillion lawsuit (filed in 2018) with a group of shareholders over the handling of Facebook’s repeated privacy violations by the company’s top executives and board of directors.
The shareholders, who were seeking $8 billion in damages, have reached a settlement, though the exact amount agreed upon remains undisclosed.
Meta shareholders alleged that Zuckerberg’s actions contributed to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which data from millions of Facebook users was improperly accessed and used by a political consulting firm, that worked for president Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign.
Meta's shareholders also asked the Delaware court judge to order 11 defendants to reimburse the company for more than $8 billion in fines and legal costs, which they claim Meta was forced to pay in order to resolve allegations of user privacy violations.
Among the defendants was Jeffrey Zients, a former director at Meta who also served as White House Chief of Staff under President Joe Biden. Other high-profile defendants included Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix, and a co-founder of Palantir Technologies.
Sheryl Sandberg, Meta’s former Chief Operating Officer, was also scheduled to testify in the case.
