The stench of Cambridge Analytica still hangs over facebook, as parent company Meta just said. agreed pay 311,000 Australian users 50 million Australian dollars ($31.7 million) for the scandal. The settlement with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) comes after a four-year dispute with Meta and follows a $725 million award in the US, along with payments in the UK United and other places.
“It represents a substantial resolution of the privacy concerns raised by the Cambridge Analytica matter; provides potentially affected Australians with the opportunity to seek redress through the Meta payments program; and brings an end to a lengthy judicial process,” the company said. Australian Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Tydd.
Cambridge Analytica, now defunct, accessed Australian users' personal data through an app (This is Your Digital Life) and used the collected information to target people with personalized messages. The scandal was exposed by The New York Times and the guardian in 2018, thanks in large part to whistleblower Christopher Wylie. Although the app was only downloaded by a small number of users, it also accessed their friends' data, affecting 311,127 people in total.
Meta will need to set up a payment system managed by a third-party administrator starting in early 2025. Smaller payments will be issued to people who have experienced “widespread worry or embarrassment,” and larger sums will be awarded to those who can demonstrate this. who suffered loss or damage. Anyone affected should be able to apply in the second quarter of 2025.
In a statement, Meta showed no regrets and said the deal was more or less a business decision. “We agree that it is in the best interest of our community and shareholders to close this chapter on allegations related to past practices that are no longer relevant to the current operation of Meta's products or systems,” a spokesperson said. <a target="_blank" data-i13n="cpos:5;pos:1" href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/dec/17/facebook-cambridge-analytica-scandal-settlement-australia” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:The Guardian;cpos:5;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas” class=”link “>the guardian. The case took four years to resolve largely because Meta claimed he was not technically doing business in Australia, but that argument was eventually dismissed by the country's highest court.
