Cambridge Analytica scandal: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg sued by Washington, DC AG

The lawsuit accuses Mark Zuckerberg of misrepresenting the protection of user data and their blatant disregard and misuse of sensitive, personal data belonging to residents of Washington District of Columbia.

Team Newsable

Washington D.C., First Published May 23, 2022, 7:50 PM IST | Last Updated May 23, 2022, 7:51 PM IST

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

The AG's case seeks to hold 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 data belonging to District residents.

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In a series of Tweets, Racine said: "Our investigation shows extensive evidence that Zuckerberg was personally involved in failures that led to the Cambridge Analytica incident."

The AG's complaint notes that 'Facebook has become a wildly successful and unique business, deriving enormous wealth from acquiring and monetizing the data of those billions of people leading their lives in Facebook's digital ecosystem.'

The complaint further claims that 'Facebook -- at Zuckerberg's direction -- shifted its business model in this way because it recognized that it could be even more profitable if it could harness and sell the ability to dependably influence its users' behaviour to third parties. Facebook, therefore, encouraged (and, at times, teamed up with) developers and researchers to collect and analyze Facebook user data so that it could better learn how to manipulate its own users’ moods and influence what they purchase and even whether and how they vote.

Cambridge Analytica Case

In March 2018, whistleblower Christopher Wylie publicly revealed that a company called Cambridge Analytica -- a London-based electioneering firm -- exfiltrated the personal data of more than 70 million Facebook users in the United States in order to influence the results of the 2016 United States presidential election.

This data trove included Facebook users’ ages, interests, pages they have liked, groups they belong to, physical locations, political affiliation, religious affiliation, relationships, and photos, as well as their full names, phone numbers, and email addresses.

The personal data of the more than 70 million US Facebook users that Cambridge Analytica used to manipulate the election accounted for more than half the total votes during the 2016 presidential elections, in an election that was effectively decided by just a few hundred thousand people.

Three years later, Facebook and Zuckerberg publicly condemned Cambridge Analytica's data collection, which according to AG Racine, only 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 companies like Cambridge Analytica to use the platform to influence and manipulate consumer behaviour.

'What is most troubling is that Facebook looked into Cambridge Analytica and determined that it posed a risk to consumer data but chose to bury those concerns rather than stop them, as that could have hurt Facebook’s (and Zuckerberg’s) bottom line. Instead of coming clean, Facebook continued to help Cambridge Analytica win a United States presidential election,' the complaint said.

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