A month after a judge dismissed the Washington D.C. attorney general’s request to add Mark Zuckerberg as a defendant to an ongoing case against Meta (formerly Facebook) over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the federal district filed a civil lawsuit this time against the billionaire CEO.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg may personally have to settle a new lawsuit alleging complacency during the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal. The Office of the Attorney General in Washington D.C. is suing Zuckerberg for his role in what they referred to as “the largest consumer privacy scandal in the nation’s history.â€
District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine alleged that Zuckerberg directly participated in the decision-making that allowed sharing Facebook users’ data with the data-mining company, despite being mindful of the potential consequences.
This harvested data of 87 million users is alleged to have been collected using unfair and deceptive trade practices, violating D.C’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act (CPPA). Racine pointed out a personality quiz app that allowed third parties such as Cambridge Analytica to harvest personal user data without their knowledge or consent.
Personal data includes Facebook users’ age, interests, pages they’ve liked, groups they belong to, physical locations, political affiliation, religious affiliation, relationships, and photos, besides their full names, phone numbers, and email addresses.
This data is alleged to have been used to influence and manipulate users’ voting and indirectly help the 2016 presidential campaign. Cambridge Analytica’s parent company was directly involved in former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
“The Cambridge Analytica revelations shocked the world, but it was no surprise to Facebook or Zuckerberg,†reads the complaintOpens a new window filed by Racine and the District of Columbia against Zuckerberg.
See More: Facebook Has No Idea How User Data Is Used or Processed, Leaked Doc Reveals
It continues, “While Facebook and Zuckerberg have, a full three years later, publicly condemned Cambridge Analytica’s data collection, its condemnation, in reality, only six demonstrates that what Zuckerberg and Facebook say publicly is part of an intentional plan to mask the devastating consequences of their actions (or inactions).â€
“Zuckerberg is not just a figurehead at Facebook; he is personally involved in nearly every major decision the company makes, and his level of influence is no secret.â€
Zuckerberg took responsibility for the incident when it broke out in 2018, and Facebook paid a $5 billion fine to the Federal Trade Commission. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone tweeted:
“The problem I have with this is you wait three years,†Judge Ross said, referring to the addition of Mr. Zuckerberg to the case…“What value does it add to name him? There’s no more relief for the consumers of the district.â€
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) May 23, 2022Opens a new window
Stone refers to Racine’s attempt to name Zuckerberg as a defendant last year in another lawsuit dating 2018. However, a D.C. Superior Court judge dismissed the motion, citing the plaintiff had waited far too long and that it serves no purpose in restitution and relief to D.C. users.
This time, the District of Columbia, based on the review of thousands of pages of documents, depositions with Facebook’s directors, former employees, and whistleblowers, and public statements made by Zuckerberg, argues that Zuckerberg’s involvement in decision-making included direct inputs on Facebook’s internal data sharing policies.
Racine states that Zuckerberg “was so involved that he personally reviewed certain applications’ use of data. This was especially true for developers who Facebook deemed ‘competitors’ and were therefore restricted from accessing certain categories of data, such as friend data, on the Platform.â€
As part of the civil lawsuit, Racine and the District of Colombia demand restitution or damages payment, civil penalties, not to mention any further violations of the CPPA.
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