Meta’s Facebook agrees to settle data privacy lawsuit

The financial terms were not disclosed in Friday's filing, with the judge allowing lawyers 60 days to finalize the written settlement. (Shutterstock/File)

• The lawsuit refers to the Cambridge Analytical scandal for which Facebook is accused of violating consumer privacy laws by sharing personal data of users with the British political consultancy firm

LONDON: Meta Platforms Inc’s Facebook has in-principle agreed to settle a lawsuit in the San Francisco federal court seeking damages for letting third parties including Cambridge Analytica access the private data of users, a court filing showed.
The financial terms were not disclosed in the filing on Friday that asked the judge to put the class action on hold for 60 days until the lawyers for both plaintiffs and Facebook finalize a written settlement.
The four-year-old lawsuit alleged that Facebook violated consumer privacy laws by sharing personal data of users with third parties such as the now-defunct British political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.
Facebook has said its privacy practices are consistent with its disclosures and “do not support any legal claims.”
Facebook and its lawyers from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher did not immediately respond to a request for more details regarding the settlement.
Of the two law firms representing the plaintiffs, Keller Rohrback did not comment while Bleichmar Fonti & Auld declined to comment.