Meta investors settle $8bn lawsuit with Zuckerberg over Facebook privacy

Mark Zuckerberg and Meta have agreed to settle a multibillion dollar lawsuit with shareholders over how the top executives handled repeated privacy violations by Facebook, US media report.

The shareholders were seeking $8bn (£6bn) in damages. It is unclear how much they agreed to settle for.

The settlement was announced on Thursday by a lawyer for the shareholders, just before the trial was about to enter its second day in a Delaware court. Meta declined to comment on the settlement.

A group of Meta shareholders had alleged that Mr Zuckerberg’s actions led to the Cambridge Analytica scandal in which the data of millions of Facebook users was leaked and used by a political consulting firm.

The shareholders had asked the judge to order the 11 defendants named in the case to reimburse Meta for more than $8bn in fines and legal costs, which they say Facebook has had to pay in order to resolve claims of users’ privacy breaches.

The lawsuit was filed after it was revealed that data from millions of Facebook users was accessed by Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm that worked for President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign.

Among the defendants is Jeffrey Zients, who served as Meta director for two years starting in May 2018, and was also former President Joe Biden’s White House chief of staff.

Other defendants include Peter Thiel, co-founder of Palantir Technologies, and Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix.