Meta settles Cambridge Analytica lawsuit with Australia’s privateness watchdog, to pay $50 million – Firstpost

Meta Platforms, the mother or father firm of Fb, has agreed to pay 50 million Australian {dollars} (about $31.85 million) to settle a lawsuit with Australia’s privateness watchdog. The settlement closes an costly and drawn-out authorized saga over the notorious Cambridge Analytica scandal, marking one other chapter in Meta’s world reckoning for mishandling consumer knowledge.

The case, introduced ahead by the Workplace of the Australian Data Commissioner (OAIC), alleged that non-public knowledge of greater than 300,000 Australians was improperly accessed by way of a third-party persona quiz app, This Is Your Digital Life. The information was then shared with out consent, ultimately ending up within the palms of Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting agency that made headlines worldwide.

The larger image of knowledge misuse

The Cambridge Analytica scandal first surfaced in 2018 when it was revealed that Fb consumer knowledge had been harvested and misused for political functions. The consulting agency allegedly used this knowledge to affect political campaigns, together with Donald Trump’s 2016 US presidential election and the Brexit referendum within the UK.

Australia’s privateness regulator took Meta to court docket in 2020, accusing the tech large of failing to safeguard customers’ private info. The case dragged on for years, with a big victory for the OAIC in March 2023 when Australia’s Excessive Courtroom rejected Meta’s attraction try, permitting the lawsuit to proceed. By June 2023, the federal court docket ordered each events to enter mediation, ultimately resulting in this settlement.

A message to tech giants

The end result serves as a powerful sign to tech giants about rising world scrutiny over knowledge practices. The OAIC argued that Meta had allowed Fb customers’ knowledge to be accessed for functions they hadn’t consented to — primarily focused political promoting. The regulator maintained that stricter accountability was important to guard consumer privateness in an more and more digital age.

Whereas Meta denies any wrongdoing, the settlement highlights the corporate’s ongoing struggles to rebuild belief and show it might probably deal with consumer knowledge responsibly. This case additionally aligns with comparable authorized challenges Meta has confronted worldwide, the place regulators within the US and UK issued fines and settlements in 2019.

What it means for the longer term

Australia’s authorized victory reinforces the decision for stronger privateness protections and laws to maintain tech giants in verify. It might additionally embolden different regulators globally to take motion in opposition to corporations that fail to respect consumer privateness. For Meta, the settlement is a monetary hit, however the bigger problem stays: regaining consumer belief and making certain such breaches don’t occur once more.

Because the mud settles on this case, it’s clear that the Cambridge Analytica scandal will proceed to function a cautionary story for tech corporations all over the place — proving that mishandling private knowledge comes with steep penalties.