Meta agrees to A$50 million settlement with Australian privacy watchdog over Cambridge Analytica case
Meta Platforms has agreed to a A$50 million ($31.85 million) settlement, Australia’s privacy watchdog said on Tuesday, ending costly and lengthy legal proceedings against parent company Facebook about the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
The Australian Information Commissioner’s Office has alleged that some users’ personal information was leaked to Facebook’s personality quiz app, This is Your Digital Life, as part of a wider scandal .
The breaches were first reported by the Guardian in early 2018, and Facebook received fines from regulators in the US and UK in 2019.
Australia’s privacy regulator has been locked in a legal battle with Meta since 2020. It persuaded the high court in March 2023 not to hear the appeal, which was seen as a The victory helps the watchdog continue to prosecute.
In June 2023, the country’s federal court ordered Meta and the privacy commissioner to enter into mediation.
Cambridge Analytica, a British consulting firm, is known to have retained the personal data of millions of Facebook users without their permission, before using it mainly for political advertising. , including supporting Donald Trump and the Brexit campaign in the UK.
Meta did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
