(AOF) – Meta Platform has agreed to pay $725 million to end a class action lawsuit accusing the social network of sharing personal data of its users with Cambridge Analytica. This data analysis firm, which worked for Donald Trump’s campaign in 2016, had access without their consent to the data of 87 million Facebook users.
It is the “largest recovery ever in a data privacy class action lawsuit and the largest amount ever paid by Facebook to resolve a class-name lawsuit,” the plaintiffs said in a document filed with the court.
“We sought to reach an agreement because it is in the best interests of our community and our shareholders,” Meta said. “Over the past three years, we have revamped our approach to privacy and implemented a comprehensive privacy program.”
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The serious European adjustment of the Internet giants
An agreement was reached on March 24 on the supervision of Internet giants, with new legislation on digital markets, the Digital Markets Act (DMA). This text aims to regulate the anti-competitive practices of the main players. With the DMA, the European Commission sets a framework to be respected, the sector now being subject to regulations similar to those of the energy, banking or telecommunications sectors. The scale of fines has also been adapted to the economic power of the players: in the event of an infringement, they may represent 6% to 20% of global turnover. In the event of a repeat offence, business transfers may be imposed. On the other hand, in the United States, the regulatory process has still not succeeded despite the authorities’ determination.