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."
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Chose different path but did not break relationship: Uddhav Thackeray on Ajit Pawar
Mumbai (PTI): Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday condoled Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's death in a plane crash, and said even though the NCP chief chose a different path in politics, he did not let their relationship suffer.
In a post on X, the former chief minister said in Pawar's death, he has lost a steadfast leader and an excellent former cabinet colleague.
As finance minister, Pawar was an extremely disciplined leader with a firm grip on his department, he said.
Ajit Pawar had served as deputy CM in the Uddhav Thackeray-led government from 2019 to 2022.
"We developed a special bond as colleagues. Ajit Pawar was open-hearted. He would speak his mind. He was not someone who held a grudge for long. Even though he chose a different path in politics, he did not let our relationship break," Uddhav Thackeray said.
Pawar broke away from the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance of the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress in 2023 and joined the BJP-led NDA, a move which split the Nationalist Congress Party.
He was known as a leader who valued his party workers, and he was truly a 'Dada' (elder brother), Thackeray said, as he offered tributes to Ajit Pawar on behalf of the Thackeray family and Shiv Sena (UBT).
His son and former minister Aaditya Thackeray described Pawar's death as shocking. "Words fail me," he said, adding that he had the opportunity to work with Ajit Pawar for five-six years, first in the government and then in the opposition.
"His commanding grip on legislative affairs and his affectionate nature won over many like me. Even when I was in the opposition, I had publicly said this many times," Aaditya said.
एक खंबीर नेता व माझ्या मंत्रिमंडळातील मी उमदा सहकारी गमावला!
— Office of Uddhav Thackeray (@OfficeofUT) January 28, 2026
मी मुख्यमंत्री असताना अजित पवार हे उपमुख्यमंत्री, अर्थमंत्री होते. अत्यंत शिस्तप्रिय, आपल्या खात्यावर वचक व अर्थ विभागाचा अभ्यास असणारे ते नेते होते. एक उत्तम सहकारी म्हणून त्यांचे माझे विशेष नाते जमले. अजित पवार हे…
