Meta once again resolves the privacy complaint, but this complaint goes back a few years. In fact, this is a ten-year class action lawsuit. company’s use of “cookies” that track people online in 2010 and 2011 Even after logging out of the Facebook platform. His personal information was collected, aggregated, and then resold to advertisers for targeted advertising.
A preliminary settlement proposal was submitted to the U.S. District Court in San Jose, California this week and must be approved by a judge. Facebook has committed to pay 90 million dollars (79 million euros). The agreement also delete data that it has improperly collected.
also read : Facebook lied, social network still spying on minors
Facebook spying on its users
The February 2012 lawsuit alleged that Facebook obtained permission from its users to track their information while using the social media network. However, the dev promised to stop tracking this data once the user logs out of the platform. you suspect, It is alleged that Facebook continues to monitor the browsing data of its users even after they log out..
Worse, Facebook allegedly later compiled users’ browsing histories on profiles that they allegedly sold to advertisers. This isn’t the first time Facebook has faced such accusations.. Earlier this year, CNIL handed Meta a record fine for managing cookies, and Facebook may soon have to pay a fine of 2.8m euros for spying on Facebook users in the UK.
Even today, Facebook does not set an example when it comes to privacy. Security researchers had recommended disabling the Facebook app on iPhones, as it can use accelerometer data to track users.
Facebook to pay plaintiffs $90 million
The 10-year-old case was first dismissed in June 2017, when a federal judge says that plaintiffs failed to demonstrate the privacy consequences of the monitoring or suffered economic damage. Revived by a federal appeals court in April 2020He said users could try to prove that the Menlo Park, California-based company was making unfair profits and infringing on their privacy.
Facebook tried to get the Supreme Court to take the case, but it refused, allowing the federal appeals court’s decision to remain in effect. To close the case definitively, That’s why Facebook eventually agreed to do justice and pay a sum of $90 million..
The $90 million will be split between plaintiffs who filed verified claims that they were affected by Facebook’s follow-up. In addition, the plaintiffs’ attorneys legal costs of $26.1 million or 29% today Total amount more than agreeing to pay to Facebook.
” It is in our community’s and shareholders’ interests to settle this litigation, which has lasted more than a decade, and we are happy to continue with this issue. said Drew Pusateri, a spokesperson for Meta. The fine should not spoil the financial situation of the company too much. As a reminder, Meta had set aside 1 billion euros, an amount multiplied by three under the previous ruling, to pay all fines.
Last year, Facebook also agreed pay $650 million to settle another case Privacy Statement in which the company’s tagging feature allegedly violates an Illinois law that prohibits the collection of biometric data without prior notice and written consent.
Source: Boundary
