Meta to Pay $725 Million to Settle Cambridge Analytica Lawsuit

Meta had agreed in principle to settle the case in August, but no financial details had been disclosed. A final agreement was hammered out Thursday, and now awaits approval by the court, the court filing said.

A Meta spokesman said Friday that the settlement is “in the best interest of our community and shareholders.” The company said that it has in the past three years revamped its approach to privacy and “implemented a comprehensive privacy program.”

The suit stemmed from revelations that Cambridge Analytica, a now-defunct British consulting firm that worked on former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, had improperly obtained and exploited Facebook user data. Meta later disclosed that data from around 87 million Facebook users may have been affected, including more than 70 million in the U.S.

Following the incident, Meta, then known as Facebook, agreed to pay fines in the U.S. and U.K. It also made changes to its privacy practices under a $5 billion settlement in 2019 with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.  

As part of the FTC agreement, Meta implemented new oversight of data practices and agreements, including a restructuring of its board of directors to boost oversight of privacy practices. The FTC investigation centered on whether Cambridge Analytica’s access to information violated a 2012 consent decree with the agency under which the social-media platform had agreed to better protect user privacy.

Cambridge Analytica shut down after the allegations surrounding Facebook data. The company had won political-consulting work in the U.S. by offering to use data to profile and influence voters with political messages that took advantage of their deepest fears and desires. But some former clients of the company said it had struggled to make good on its bold claims.

Write to Sam Schechner at [email protected]