Meta Platforms has reached a settlement of AUD 50 million (approximately $31.85 million or Rs. 270 crore) with Australia’s privacy regulator, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, effectively resolving a protracted legal dispute related to the Cambridge Analytica controversy.
The privacy watchdog had charged that users’ personal data was improperly shared with Facebook’s personality quiz app, This is Your Digital Life, amid the larger scandal surrounding data misuse.
The allegations first surfaced in early 2018 in a report by the Guardian, leading to fines imposed on Facebook by regulators in both the United States and the United Kingdom in 2019.
Since 2020, Australia’s privacy regulator has been embroiled in ongoing legal proceedings against Meta. It was claimed that the private information of 311,127 Australian Facebook users was subjected to potential exposure through a connection to Cambridge Analytica for profiling activities.
In March 2023, the high court declined to entertain an appeal from Meta, marking a significant advancement for the privacy commissioner’s case.
Following this, in June 2023, a federal court in Australia mandated that Meta and the privacy commissioner engage in mediation to resolve the dispute.
“Today’s settlement signifies the largest payment ever recorded to tackle individual privacy issues within Australia,” stated Elizabeth Tydd, Australian Information Commissioner.
Cambridge Analytica, a British consultancy, garnered attention for retaining the personal information of millions of Facebook users without their consent, primarily for political marketing efforts, including its support for Donald Trump and the Brexit campaign in the UK.
A spokesperson for Meta told Reuters that the company agreed to the settlement in Australia without admitting any wrongdoing, thereby concluding allegations related to its previous practices.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
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