Meta has agreed to pay out $90 million to settle a lawsuit claiming it violated privacy by tracking its users on the internet even after t...
Meta has agreed to pay out $90 million to settle a lawsuit claiming it violated privacy by tracking its users on the internet even after they had logged off from Facebook.
The decade-long class action lawsuit involved claims the Facebook 'Like' button plug-in, when placed on other websites, could track users' activity away from the social media platform even if they did not interact with the plug-ins.
This was done through the use of cookies, which tracked things such as websites users visited, interactions with those websites and the items they viewed or purchased, according to court documents.
As part of the proposed settlement, which must still be approved by a judge, Facebook's parent company Meta - led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg- has agreed to delete all the data it 'wrongfully collected' during the period between 2010 and 2011.
The company, which posted profits of $39.37 billion in 2021, will pay $90 million to users who filed a claim, after lawyer fees are deducted. It was not immediately clear how that would be distributed to the claimants.
The agreement was filed Monday in a California court and if approved by a judge would put to rest one of the series of suits alleging the social media giant invaded users' privacy.
Meta has agreed to pay out $90million to settle a lawsuit claiming it violated privacy by tracking its users on the internet on web pages with the Facebook 'Like' plug-in, even after Facebook users had logged off from Facebook. Pictured: A sign posted in front of Meta headquarters in in Menlo Park, California
The settlement was announced on Tuesday, and represents one the largest pay-outs in the company's history, and lawyers for the case said the settlement is one of the 10 largest data-privacy settlements in U.S. history.
The company denied wrongdoing but settled to avoid the costs and risks of a trial, according to settlement papers.
But it is a fraction of Facebook's $650 million settlement of a privacy lawsuit last year. In that case, the lawsuit claimed that Facebook used photo face-tagging and other biometric data without the permission of its users.
'Reaching a settlement in this case, which is more than a decade old, is in the best interest of our community and our shareholders and we're glad to move past this issue,' Meta spokesperson Drew Pusateri told AFP news agency.
The suit alleged the social media giant violated privacy guidelines by tracking its users' visits to outside web pages that contained Facebook 'like' buttons in order to better target ads.
That tracking contradicted assurances given by Facebook at the time, according to court filings.
The suit, which consolidated state and federal litigation, represented people in the US who had active Facebook accounts between early 2010 and late 2011.
Facebook was able to tell when someone loaded a page embedded with its content, such as a 'like' button, and could link the data back to users' profiles, according to legal filings.
The issue raised in the suit was addressed and is not impacting Facebook users, according to the social network.
As part of the proposed settlement, which must still be approved by a judge, Facebook's parent company Meta - led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg (pictured) - has agreed to delete all the data it 'wrongfully collected' during that period
The proposed settlement calls for Meta to pay $90 million into a claims fund and delete all data the suit argued was wrongly collected. Lawyers for the plaintiffs plan to seek legal fees of up to $26.1 million, or 29%, from the settlement fund.
Meta and other US internet giants are in the crosshairs of privacy advocates, users and regulators regarding how they use people's data and software 'cookies' that track online behavior.
The case had been winding its way through lower courts since 2012 and last year the Supreme Court declined to hear it. Back then, missteps over user privacy were among Facebook's biggest troubles.
In the years since, though, issues of misinformation, hate speech and threats to democracy have been added to the mix.
Facebook and Zuckerberg has faced other privacy complaints.
In July 2019, it agreed to bolster privacy safeguards in a U.S. Federal Trade Commission settlement that also included a $5 billion fine.
On Monday, Texas' attorney general sued Meta, claiming it collected facial recognition data without users' permission.
News of the settlement came as Meta announced Britain's former deputy prime minister Sir Nick Clegg has been promoted by Zuckerberg to a new role focused on regulation which puts him at the same level of seniority as the firm's founder.
News of the settlement came as Meta announced Britain's former deputy prime minister Sir Nick Clegg (pictured speaking in November) has been promoted by Zuckerberg to a new role focused on regulation which puts him at the same level of seniority as the firm's founder
The 55-year-old was recruited by Facebook in 2018 to be its head of global affairs as Zuckerberg sought to repair the company's reputation over its role in spreading misinformation during elections.
Zuckerberg said he had asked Sir Nick to become president of global affairs at Facebook's parent company Meta because 'we need someone at the level of myself (for our products) and Sheryl (for our business) who can lead and represent us for all our policy issues globally'.
'For the last three years, Nick has managed some of the most complex issues our company faces - including content policy, elections, the establishment of the Oversight Board, and more,' Zuckerberg said in a statement posted to his personal Facebook account.
'Nick will now lead our company on all our policy matters, including how we interact with governments as they consider adopting new policies and regulations, as well as how we make the case publicly for our products and our work.'
But despite the promotion, Zuckerberg said Sir Nick will still to report himself and chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg.
Sandberg also offered her congratulations as she shared Zuckerberg's post, adding: 'Nick's calm and principled leadership will continue to be an asset for Meta in the months and years to come.'
Liberal Democrat Sir Nick served as Britain's deputy PM in a coalition Government with the Conservative party from 2010 to 2015 before quitting politics after losing his seat in the Houses of Parliament in the 2017 general election.
He has repeatedly defended Facebook's use of data and advertising, including last year in response to claims by ex-employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen.
Nick Clegg has has repeatedly defended Facebook's use of data and advertising, including last year in response to claims by ex-employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen (pictured)
Just after those allegations were made in October, Sir Nick announced several new Facebook features to help safeguard young people.
The same month, Facebook said it plans to hire 10,000 workers in the European Union over the next five years to work on 'the metaverse' - a new computing platform that promises to connect people virtually.
Sir Nick has also argued better regulation is needed in the tech sector and that it should not be down to private companies to decide on what constitutes truth - something he said would be an 'inappropriate power'.
He will be replaced as head of communications and public affairs by David Ginsberg, Ms Sandberg said.
At the start of the month, Facebook stock saw a sharp sell-off, after CEO Mark Zuckerberg lost some $30 billion in net worth.
On February 3, Meta stock plunged 26 percent after the company reported its first-ever decline in daily active users, wiping $237 billion from its market capitalization in the company's biggest-ever single day loss.
Zuckerberg's net worth has plunged roughly $30 billion since Facebook's quarterly report on Wednesday, pushing him off the top-10 list of Forbes billionaires, which ranked him at No. 12 with $85 billion after the closing bell on Friday.
Prior to the earnings report, Zuckerberg had ranked as the eighth wealthiest person in the world. According to Forbes, he currently sits in 15th.
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