Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg sued by Washington, DC AG

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

The Cambridge Analytica scandal returned to haunt Meta aka Fb CEO Mark Zuckerberg with Washington District of Columbia Attorney General Karl A Racine saying that his office is suing the social media behemoth's founder for his position in Fb's misleading privateness practices and failure to protect millions of users' knowledge.

The AG's case seeks to carry Zuckerberg accountable for his role in Facebook violating the District's consumer protection laws by misrepresenting the protection of user data and their blatant disregard and misuse of sensitive, personal information belonging to District residents.

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In a collection of Tweets, Racine stated: "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 'Fb has turn into a wildly successful and unique business, deriving enormous wealth from buying and monetizing the information of these billions of individuals leading their lives in Facebook's digital ecosystem.'

The complaint further claims that 'Facebook -- at Zuckerberg's route -- shifted its enterprise model on this way as a result of it acknowledged that it may very well be much more profitable if it could harness and sell the ability to dependably influence its users' behaviour to third events. Fb, subsequently, encouraged (and, at instances, teamed up with) developers and researchers to collect and analyze Facebook user knowledge so that it may better discover ways to manipulate its personal customers’ moods and affect what they purchase and even whether or not and the way they vote.

Cambridge Analytica Case

In March 2018, whistleblower Christopher Wylie publicly revealed that a company called Cambridge Analytica -- a London-based electioneering agency -- exfiltrated the non-public knowledge of more than 70 million Facebook customers in the United States to be able to influence the outcomes of the 2016 United States presidential election. 

This data trove included Facebook users’ ages, interests, pages they have preferred, groups they belong to, bodily places, political affiliation, spiritual affiliation, relationships, and images, in addition to their full names, cellphone numbers, and electronic mail addresses.

The personal knowledge of the more than 70 million US Facebook users that Cambridge Analytica used to govern the election accounted for greater than half the full votes throughout the 2016 presidential elections, in an election that was effectively decided by just a few hundred thousand folks. 

Three years later, Fb and Zuckerberg publicly condemned Cambridge Analytica's data assortment, which according to AG Racine, solely demonstrates that what they are saying publicly is part of an intentional plan to masks the devastating penalties of their actions.

The Allegations

Specializing in the Cambridge Analytica case, the grievance accused Facebook of actively encouraging firms like Cambridge Analytica to use the platform to influence and manipulate shopper behaviour.

'What is most troubling is that Facebook looked into Cambridge Analytica and decided that it posed a risk to client data but selected to bury these issues moderately than stop them, as that might have harm Facebook’s (and Zuckerberg’s) bottom line. Instead of coming clean, Fb continued to assist Cambridge Analytica win a United States presidential election,' the criticism stated.

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