Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other company executives have reached a settlement with shareholders, ending a long-running $8 billion lawsuit over allegations that Facebook knowingly harvested user data.
The lawsuit began in 2018, when shareholders claimed Zuckerberg, former COO Sheryl Sandberg, and other executives violated a Federal Trade Commission agreement by sharing user data with third-party apps without consent. Shareholders sought $8 billion in damages.
The trial was expected to feature testimony from Zuckerberg, Sandberg, and other high-profile board members, including Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. The defendants denied any wrongdoing, arguing the shareholders had not proven their claims.
Details of the settlement have not been made public. According to attorneys, the agreement was reached quickly in Delaware’s Chancery Court.
The case stems from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, when Facebook user data was allegedly harvested through a third-party app and used to influence events like Brexit and the 2016 U.S. election.
The lawsuit also named other executives and board members, including Susan Desmond-Hellman, Peggy Alford, Kenneth Chenault, Jeff Zients, and Erskine Bowles. Sandberg faced sanctions during the trial for allegedly deleting personal emails, which she said were largely preserved elsewhere.
Meta, which rebranded from Facebook in 2021, continues to face scrutiny over its privacy practices. Zuckerberg remains one of the world’s richest people, with a net worth of $241.1 billion, while Sandberg, Thiel, Hastings, and Andreessen are also among the wealthiest executives in tech.
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