Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg sued by Washington, DC AG

Washington D.C., First Revealed Could 23, 2022, 7:50 PM IST

The Cambridge Analytica scandal returned to haunt Meta aka Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg with Washington District of Columbia Attorney Basic Karl A Racine saying that his office is suing the social media behemoth's founder for his role in Fb's misleading privateness practices and failure to guard hundreds of thousands of customers' knowledge.

The AG's case seeks to carry Zuckerberg accountable for his position in Fb violating the District's shopper safety legal guidelines by misrepresenting the safety of consumer data and their blatant disregard and misuse of sensitive, personal knowledge belonging to District residents.

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In a collection of Tweets, Racine mentioned: "Our investigation reveals extensive evidence that Zuckerberg was personally concerned in failures that led to the Cambridge Analytica incident."

The AG's criticism notes that 'Facebook has become a wildly successful and unique enterprise, deriving huge wealth from buying and monetizing the information of those billions of individuals leading their lives in Fb's digital ecosystem.'

The grievance further claims that 'Facebook -- at Zuckerberg's path -- shifted its business mannequin in this way because it recognized that it could possibly be even more profitable if it may harness and sell the ability to dependably influence its users' behaviour to 3rd events. Facebook, subsequently, encouraged (and, at instances, teamed up with) builders and researchers to collect and analyze Facebook person data in order that it could better learn how to manipulate its personal users’ moods and affect what they purchase and even whether or not and how they vote.

Cambridge Analytica Case

In March 2018, whistleblower Christopher Wylie publicly revealed that an organization known as Cambridge Analytica -- a London-based electioneering firm -- exfiltrated the private information of more than 70 million Fb customers in the USA in an effort to affect the outcomes of the 2016 United States presidential election. 

This knowledge trove included Facebook users’ ages, interests, pages they've liked, groups they belong to, physical locations, political affiliation, religious affiliation, relationships, and photographs, in addition to their full names, cellphone numbers, and e-mail addresses.

The personal knowledge of the more than 70 million US Facebook customers that Cambridge Analytica used to manipulate the election accounted for more than half the entire votes in the course of the 2016 presidential elections, in an election that was effectively decided by only a few hundred thousand people. 

Three years later, Fb and Zuckerberg publicly condemned Cambridge Analytica's information collection, which in response to AG Racine, solely demonstrates that what they say publicly is part of an intentional plan to mask the devastating consequences of their actions.

The Allegations

Focusing on the Cambridge Analytica case, the complaint accused Facebook of actively encouraging firms like Cambridge Analytica to use the platform to influence and manipulate consumer behaviour.

'What is most troubling is that Fb looked into Cambridge Analytica and decided that it posed a threat to shopper data but selected to bury these concerns quite than cease them, as that might have hurt Fb’s (and Zuckerberg’s) backside line. As a substitute of coming clear, Fb continued to help Cambridge Analytica win a United States presidential election,' the grievance stated.

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Final Updated Might 23, 2022, 7:51 PM IST