Meta Platforms has reached a settlement of AUD 50 million ($31.85 million or approximately Rs. 270 crore) with Australia’s privacy regulatory body, as announced on Tuesday. This settlement brings an end to a prolonged legal dispute concerning the Cambridge Analytica incident involving the company’s Facebook platform.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) previously alleged that Facebook’s personality quiz app, This is Your Digital Life, was responsible for the unauthorized disclosure of personal information from some users, linking it to the wider Cambridge Analytica controversy.
These data breaches first came to light in early 2018 through reports by the Guardian. Subsequently, Facebook faced fines from regulators in both the United States and the United Kingdom in 2019.
The legal challenge from Australia’s privacy watchdog against Meta began in 2020. According to a statement from that year, the personal information of 311,127 Australian Facebook users was at risk of being exposed to Cambridge Analytica for profiling purposes.
In March 2023, the high court decided not to hear an appeal from Meta, enabling the OAIC to proceed with its case. Following this, in June 2023, the federal court mandated both Meta and the privacy commissioner to engage in mediation.
“Today’s settlement marks the largest payment ever made to address individual privacy concerns in Australia,” stated Elizabeth Tydd, the Australian Information Commissioner.
Cambridge Analytica, a British consulting entity, was infamous for unlawfully collecting the personal data of millions of Facebook users, primarily utilizing it for political advertising, including efforts related to Donald Trump’s campaign and the Brexit vote in the UK.
A spokesperson for Meta informed Reuters that the company settled the lawsuit in Australia without admitting to any wrongdoing, thus concluding a chapter on the allegations regarding its past business practices.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
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