Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:FB). has agreed to pay US$725mln to settle a class action lawsuit that claimed the social media giant gave third parties access to user data without their consent.
It is the “largest recovery ever achieved in a data privacy class action and the most Facebook has ever paid to resolve a private class action,” Keller Rohrback LLP, the law firm representing the plaintiffs, said in a court filing announcing the settlement.
The class action lawsuit was prompted in 2018 after Facebook disclosed that the information of 87mln users was improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica.
The case was broadened to focus on Facebook’s overall data-sharing practices.
Meta did not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement, which is subject to the approval of a federal judge in San Francisco.
The company said in a statement settling was 'in the best interest of our community and shareholders.'
Cambridge Analytica, which shut down after the allegations, sparked controvery because the data it harvested from Facebook was used to inform political campaigns.