Meta Agrees To Pay $725M to Settle Cambridge Analytica Consumer Privacy Class Action

December 26, 2022

Facebook User Plaintiffs and Defendant Facebook have agreed to resolve In re: Facebook, Inc. Consumer Privacy User Profile Litig., No. 3:18-md-02843-VC, the class action arising out of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, for $725 million—the largest settlement ever of a privacy class action in the United States. Today, Plaintiffs filed a motion seeking preliminary approval of the settlement. The parties notified the Court of a settlement in principle in August and after months of additional negotiations have now filed the details of the settlement with the Court.

Derek Loeser of Keller Rohrback L.L.P. and Lesley Weaver of Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP serve as Co-Lead Counsel for Plaintiffs in this action. Litigation was originally prompted by news in March 2018 that the data mining firm Cambridge Analytica had harvested information from up to 87 million Facebook users. The case has since expanded to target broader data-sharing practices by Facebook. Plaintiffs allege that Facebook granted numerous third parties access to their Facebook content and information without their consent, and that Facebook failed to adequately monitor the third parties’ access to, and use of, that information.

The hard-fought and contentious litigation was overseen by United States District Judge Vince Chhabria and then-Magistrate and now District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley of the Northern District of California, as well as by discovery mediators Daniel Garrie and Judge Gail Andler. Mr. Garrie also served as the Special Master for discovery disputes, and former U.S. Magistrate Judge Jay C. Gandhi mediated the settlement.

Mr. Loeser and Ms. Weaver released the following statement about the settlement: “This historic settlement will provide meaningful relief to the class in this complex and novel privacy case. We have reached this point only because our teams of lawyers and professionals have dedicated years of hard work to this case. We are also immensely thankful to the Court and the mediators.” The Court will review the papers submitted in support of the Settlement Agreement and will determine if the settlement should be preliminarily approved.