Meta Reaches $37.5M Settlement For Facebook's User Privacy Violation: Report

  • Meta Platforms Inc META reached a $37.5 million settlement regarding a 2018 lawsuit alleging Facebook of tracking user movements through their smartphones without permission, Reuters reports.
  • It resolved claims that Facebook violated California law and privacy policy by gathering data from users who turned off Location Services on their mobile devices.
  • The users said they did not want to share their locations with Facebook.
  • Also Read: Facebook, Instagram Fall Prey To Data Scraping; Indict Chinese Company
  • The settlement covers U.S. users of Facebook after January 30, 2015. Meta denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle. 
  • In June 2018, Facebook and CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the U.S. Congress that it used location data "to help advertisers reach people in particular areas."
  • Lawyers for the plaintiffs may seek up to 30% of the settlement for legal fees.
  • Earlier this year, Meta settled a lawsuit alleging Facebook of its use of tracking "cookies" in 2010 and 2011 to track subscribers' internet use even after they had logged off the platform. 
  • Meta held $40.49 billion in cash and equivalents as of June 30.
  • Price Action: META shares traded higher by 0.3% at $161.60 in the premarket on the last check Wednesday.
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