Meta Investors Reach Settlement with Zuckerberg in $8B Facebook Privacy Lawsuit

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and several top executives have reached a settlement with shareholders in a lawsuit seeking $8 billion over Facebook’s repeated privacy violations, including the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The settlement was announced Thursday in a Delaware court, just before the trial was set to enter its second day. While the exact amount of the settlement remains undisclosed, it brings an abrupt end to one of the largest shareholder lawsuits tied to data privacy breaches in tech history.

Meta declined to comment on the outcome.

The lawsuit stemmed from the 2018 revelation that personal data from millions of Facebook users had been improperly accessed by political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, which worked for Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Shareholders accused Zuckerberg and other company leaders of failing to protect user data and exposing the company to billions in legal and regulatory costs. The plaintiffs argued that Meta should be reimbursed for over $8 billion in penalties and legal fees incurred due to executive negligence.

Among the 11 named defendants were high-profile figures including Jeffrey Zients, a former Meta board member and President Joe Biden’s ex-White House chief of staff; billionaire investor Peter Thiel, co-founder of Palantir Technologies; and Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings.

The case had drawn wide attention due to the scale of the financial demand and the prominent individuals involved. It also spotlighted ongoing concerns about how tech giants handle user privacy and data security.