Meta Agrees $90M Settlement in Facebook Privacy Suit

Facebook-parent Meta has agreed to pay $90 million to settle a 10-year-old lawsuit accusing it of tracking users online even after they logged off the social network, court records show.

The agreement was filed Monday in a California court and if approved by a judge would put to rest one of the series of suits alleging the social media giant invaded users’ privacy.

“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,” Meta spokesperson Drew Pusateri told AFP.

The suit alleged the social media giant violated privacy guidelines by tracking its users’ visits to outside web pages that contained Facebook “like” buttons in order to better target ads.

That tracking contradicted assurances given by Facebook at the time, according to court filings.

The suit, which consolidated state and federal litigation, represented people who had active Facebook accounts between early 2010 and late 2011.

Facebook was able to tell when someone loaded a page embedded with its content, such as a “like” button, and could link the data back to users’ profiles, according to legal filings.

The issue raised in the suit was addressed and is not impacting Facebook users, according to the social network.

The proposed settlement calls for Meta to pay $90 million into a claims fund and delete all data the suit argued was wrongly collected.

Meta and other US internet giants are in the crosshairs of privacy advocates, users and regulators regarding how they use people’s data and software “cookies” that track online behavior.

You may also enjoy reading, CVEs You May Have Missed While Log4J Stole The Headlines

Got to Cybersecurity News

Go to Homepage

Go to Cybersecurity Academy

Stay informed of the latest Cybersecurity trends, threats and developments. Sign up for RiSec Weekly Cybersecurity Newsletter Today

Remember, CyberSecurity Starts With You!

• Globally, 30,000 websites are hacked daily.
• 64% of companies worldwide have experienced at least one form of a cyber attack.
• There were 20M breached records in March 2021.
• In 2020, ransomware cases grew by 150%.
• Email is responsible for around 94% of all malware.
• Every 39 seconds, there is a new attack somewhere on the web.
• An average of around 24,000 malicious mobile apps are blocked daily on the internet.