Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, has agreed in principle to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging that the social media giant improperly shared users’ personal data with third parties, including the now-defunct political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.
The proposed settlement was disclosed in a filing before the United States District Court in San Francisco, where the parties asked the court to pause proceedings for 60 days to allow them to finalise a written agreement.
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The financial terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
The lawsuit, filed four years earlier, alleged that Facebook violated consumer privacy laws by allowing third parties, including Cambridge Analytica, to access the personal information of millions of users without their consent.
Cambridge Analytica became the centre of a global data privacy scandal after it was revealed that the firm had obtained Facebook user data to build voter profiles and support political advertising campaigns.
Meta has consistently denied wrongdoing, maintaining that its privacy practices were consistent with the disclosures made to users and did not support the legal claims brought against the company.
The company and its legal representatives did not immediately comment on the proposed settlement.
Law firms representing the plaintiffs also declined to comment while settlement negotiations continue.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal prompted widespread scrutiny of Facebook’s data handling practices and led to increased regulatory oversight of technology companies’ collection and use of personal information.
