Meta’s private data problems keep coming around even when everyone thinks the social behemoth has got a break. Besides current cases emanating from tighter scrutiny by antitrust watchdogs, cases from the past keep resurfacing.
Earlier this week, Facebook agreed to a multimillion dollar settlement for a decade-old lawsuit. The 2012 suit said Facebook used plug-ins and cookies to track visits to third-party websites containing “like” buttons.
Meta agreed to pay $90 million to settle the lawsuit that would be one of the 10 biggest data privacy class action settlements ever if approved. The proposed settlement was filed late Monday and still requires court approval, according to court documents.
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Meta has so many fresh antitrust concerns and has been fighting to keep its head up amid the drowning impact. Lately, GDPR, Europe’s data privacy watchdog, has been tightening its rules, making it more difficult for Facebook to harvest data for targeted ads.
The 10-year old lawsuit has dragged along many other cases that came along, prompting Facebook’s decision to move for settlement. Insider reports below that the events leading to the lawsuit involved improperly-collected data that took place about 12 years.
The 2012 lawsuit alleges that, between April 2010 and September 2011, Facebook violated privacy and wiretapping laws by using plug-ins to store cookies tracking users’ visits to third-party websites that contained “like” buttons. The social media site had users’ permission to track them while they were logged in but promised to stop when they logged out.
Besides the $90 million sum, which would be distributed among affected users, the settlement would require that Facebook delete data improperly collected on users through the use of this practice.
Meta did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment, but a spokesperson told Variety, “Reaching a settlement in this case, which is more than a decade old, is in the best interest of our community and our shareholders and we’re glad to move past this issue.” As part of the settlement, Meta denies any wrongdoing.
The lawsuit was dismissed in 2017 when a federal judge said the plaintiffs failed to show they had a reasonable expectation of privacy or that they suffered economic harm. In 2020, a federal appeals court revived the case, saying there is economic harm in such a situation. Facebook tried to have the Supreme Court take up the case, but it declined, allowing the federal appeals court’s decision to stand.
Last year, Facebook agreed to pay $650 million to settle a separate privacy lawsuit, this one alleging the company’s tagging feature violated an Illinois law prohibiting the collection of biometric data without prior notification and written consent. On Monday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the state is suing Meta over Facebook’s now-defunct facial recognition program.
Two weeks ago, Meta threatened to pull out of Europe over the decision of regulators to halt the social media giant from transferring data from European users to the United States. These unending cases are stifling Meta’s chances at growth. The company started the year at nearly $1trillion valuation, but has lost about $250 billion, taking its valuation to around $600 billion.