Facebook parent Meta will pay $725M to settle user data case
San Francisco (AP): Facebook's corporate parent has agreed to pay 725 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the world's largest social media platform allowed millions of its users' personal information to be fed to Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump's victorious presidential campaign in 2016.
Terms of the settlement reached by Meta Platforms, the holding company for Facebook and Instagram, were disclosed in court documents filed late Thursday. It will still need to be approved by a judge in a San Francisco federal court hearing set for March.
The case sprang from 2018 revelations that Cambridge Analytica, a firm with ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon, had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million users of the platform. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign that culminated in Trump's election as the 45th president.
Uproar over the revelations led to a contrite Zuckerberg being grilled by U.S. lawmakers during a high-profile congressional hearing and spurred calls for people to delete their Facebook accounts. Even though Facebook's growth has stalled as more people connect and entertain themselves on rival services such as TikTok, the social network still boasts about 2 billion users worldwide, including nearly 200 million in the U.S. and Canada.
The lawsuit, which had been seeking to be certified as a class action representing Facebook users, had asserted the privacy breach proved Facebook is a "data broker and surveillance firm," as well as a social network.
The two sides reached a temporary settlement agreement in August, just a few weeks before a Sept. 20 deadline for Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his long-time chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, to submit to depositions.
The company based in Menlo Park, California, said in statement Friday it pursued a settlement because it was in the best interest of its community and shareholders.
"Over the last three years we revamped our approach to privacy and implemented a comprehensive privacy program," said spokesperson Dina El-Kassaby Luce. "We look forward to continuing to build services people love and trust with privacy at the forefront."
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Woman found hanging at Bengaluru home dies, husband held
Bengaluru (PTI): A 24-year-old married woman who had been found hanging from a ceiling fan at her home has died, and her husband has been arrested in this connection, police said on Monday.
The deceased Shruthi was a resident of Yelahanka here, and her maternal family claimed it to be a murder. Her husband, Pawan Kalyan, has been arrested on charges of dowry harassment, police added.
According to police, on Saturday, she was found hanging from a ceiling fan, with police suspecting it to be a case of suicide.
She was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was declared brought dead, police said.
Shruthi married Kalyan, a private employee, in December 2024, and the couple has been residing in Yelahanka since then, a senior police officer said.
However, her family has alleged that Kalyan and his family had been harassing Shruthi for additional dowry, which often led to quarrels between them, he said.
The officer said the two families had recently resolved their disputes, but the issue cropped up again.
Amruth, Shruthi's younger brother, told reporters that he was informed over the phone that his sister had died by suicide.
"They told me on the phone that my sister died by suicide, and I immediately informed my father. The couple had argued earlier that day before I was told she had died. When I checked, the ceiling fan did not appear to have bent or moved. My sister weighed 75 kg," he said.
A case was registered against Kalyan at the Yelahanka New Town police station for dowry harassment, and he was arrested in connection with the incident, the officer added.
The autopsy report will ascertain the exact cause of death, police said.
