Facebook is a website that many of us use to post photos or stay in touch with family and friends.
Though it’s also been on a very bad journey the past several years, being forced by leftist and transhumanist-obsessed leader Mark Zuckerberg to go down a dark and unprofitable path.
The company, which is now named Meta, is also being forced to pay out a massive $725 million lawsuit because of past sins.
What Did Facebook Do?
Facebook has been getting sued for letting third-party companies, such as Cambridge Analytica, tap into user info without them giving permission.
This lawsuit has actually been going on for four years. It came about after Cambridge was found to have breached data on 87 million users of the Facebook platform.
This is the biggest payout in a data breach in history. It will finally bring justice and hopefully stop similar data breaches from happening in the future.
As the lawsuit said, Facebook gave many third-party corporations the ability to tap into private user data without users ever having given permission. Cambridge Analytica was just the most famous case of this.
At this point, up to 280 million individuals whose data was accessed may qualify to receive a payout as part of this lawsuit.
Breaking: Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc has agreed to pay $725 million to resolve a class-action lawsuit accusing the social media giant of allowing third parties, including Cambridge Analytica, to access users' personal information. @Reuters https://t.co/1BS5QE0NFB
— Nate Raymond (@nateraymond) December 23, 2022
Meta Denies Doing Anything Wrong
Meta and Facebook say they did nothing wrong and they are only paying the money to avoid a drawn-out, wasteful process of litigation and more expenses.
Generally, of course, you don’t settle a lawsuit when you did nothing wrong. You settle a lawsuit when you know the trial will just be a waste of time and you’ll likely be found guilty on some or all accusations regardless.
Facebook rep Dina Luce said the Meta platform wants to keep making platforms that folks “love and trust” and paying this out gets rid of any bad sentiments.
Cambridge Analytica itself is no longer operating since it was busted for accessing personal info on people and selling it to various parties, including political campaigns.
Three years ago, Facebook agreed to pay $5 billion to the FTC and $100 million to the SEC because of stock fraud.
Essentially, Facebook admitted it downplayed the risk of data breaches and how that could hurt its stock prices and consequently harm investors who were putting their money into Facebook.
Woah. Facebook just posted what would be “the largest [settlement] ever achieved in a data privacy lawsuit” and “the most Facebook has ever paid.” $725mil seems large but coupled with Zuck’s SEC deposition transcript just revealed this week, it protects Zuckerberg (again). 1/3 https://t.co/iLjGu2yR1L pic.twitter.com/Gg67UKjPpA
— Jason Kint (@jason_kint) December 23, 2022
The Bottom Line
The internet is a place full of opportunities for communication, sharing, and fun. On the other hand, it also has a dark side of exploitation and danger.
This includes things like identity theft and situations like this lawsuit where large corporations were just mining personal data without permission and selling it.
Internet users should always remain aware of the dangers of using sites like Facebook.
