Cambridge Analytica

The now-defunct Cambridge Analytica was crucial for Donald Trump’s successful presidential campaign in 2016. The organisaton gained access to the personal information of people from millions of Facebook accounts for the purposes of targetted campaigning

Meta Platforms Inc, the parent company of Facebook has agreed to pay USD 725 million to resolve the lawsuit accusing it by allowing third parties like Cambridge Analytica to access Facebook users’ personal information. This will provide meaningful relief to the parties in the picture. The settlement was disclosed in a court filing late on Thursday. It would resolve the issue by revelations in 2018 that Facebook had allowed the British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica to access data of as many as 87 million users. Lawyers for the plaintiffs called the proposed settlement the largest to ever be achieved in a U.S. data privacy class action and the most that Meta has ever paid to resolve a class action lawsuit. 

Meta however did not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement. They have however come under the scrutiny of the American Congress, following which they agreed to pay USD 5 Bn to address a Federal Trade Commission probe and $100 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The now-defunct Cambridge Analytica was crucial for Donald Trump’s successful presidential campaign in 2016. The organisaton gained access to the personal information of people from millions of Facebook accounts for the purposes of targetted campaigning.