Mark Zuckerberg, Meta Investors Settle $8 Billion Lawsuit Over Facebook Privacy Violations

Meta Platforms Inc. (META) co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and the company’s investors on Thursday reached a settlement in the $8 billion lawsuit over repeated privacy violations involving its social media platform, Facebook.

Meta’s shares were trading 0.3% lower at the time of writing. Stocktwits data showed the retail sentiment around the stock was in the ‘bullish’ territory.

The lawsuit attempted to hold Mark Zuckerberg, Marc Andreessen, and other company officials personally liable for the billions of dollars in fines and legal costs borne by the company.

The parties involved in the lawsuit did not disclose the terms of the settlement, but the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Sam Closic, stated that the agreement was reached quickly, according to a Reuters report.

The trial entered its second day and was to be heard by Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery, but it was adjourned before the proceedings for the day began. Judge McCormick congratulated the two parties for arriving at a settlement.

Apart from billionaire venture capitalist Andreessen and Zuckerberg, the plaintiffs also sought damages from former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and eight other individuals.

Former Facebook board members, now Meta board members, Peter Thiel, co-founder of Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR), and Netflix Inc. (NFLX) co-founder Reed Hastings were also expected to deliver testimony during the trial, which was initially scheduled to run through the end of next week.

The lawsuit alleged that Zuckerberg and Sandberg knowingly ran Facebook as an illegal data harvesting service.

Among the key contentions was that Zuckerberg and Sandberg failed to ensure Facebook's compliance with a 2012 agreement with the Federal Trade Commission to protect user data.

In 2016, Facebook was caught in a scandal involving illegal access to the data of millions of users by the now-defunct political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica.

Three years later, the FTC handed Facebook a $5 billion fine for failing to comply with the 2012 agreement.

Facebook rebranded as Meta in 2021.

Meta’s stock is up nearly 20% year-to-date and 52% over the past 12 months.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

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