Meta Facebook agrees to settle data privacy lawsuit

The Meta Platforms Inc logo appears. In her booth, at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups, at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, June 17, 2022. REUTERS / Benoit Tessier

Aug 26 (Reuters) – A court file shows that Meta Platforms affiliate Facebook has agreed in principle to settle a lawsuit in San Francisco federal court seeking damages for allowing third parties including Cambridge Analytica to access users’ private data.

Financial terms were not disclosed in Friday’s filing that asked a judge to delay the class action for 60 days until attorneys for both the plaintiffs and Facebook have completed a written settlement.

The four-year-old lawsuit alleged that Facebook violated consumer privacy laws by sharing users’ personal data with third parties, such as the now-expired British political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.

Facebook said its privacy practices are consistent with its disclosures and “does not support any legal claims.”

Facebook and its attorneys from Gibson and Dunn & Crutcher did not immediately respond to a request for more details about the settlement.

Of the two law firms representing the plaintiffs, Keller Rohrback did not comment while Bleichmar Fonte and Old declined to comment.

Additional reporting by Eva Matthews and Praveen Paramasivam in Bengaluru; Edited by Aditya Sony

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