Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg sued by Washington, DC AG

Washington D.C., First Printed Might 23, 2022, 7:50 PM IST

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

The AG's case seeks to hold Zuckerberg accountable for his position in Fb violating the District's consumer safety laws by misrepresenting the safety of consumer data and their blatant disregard and misuse of delicate, personal data belonging to District residents.

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

The AG's grievance notes that 'Fb has become a wildly profitable and distinctive business, deriving enormous wealth from buying and monetizing the info of these billions of individuals leading their lives in Facebook's digital ecosystem.'

The criticism additional claims that 'Facebook -- at Zuckerberg's route -- shifted its business mannequin in this method because it recognized that it might be even more profitable if it might harness and sell the flexibility to dependably affect its customers' behaviour to 3rd parties. Facebook, therefore, encouraged (and, at times, teamed up with) builders and researchers to collect and analyze Fb consumer knowledge in order that it could higher learn how to manipulate its personal users’ moods and influence what they buy and even whether or not and how they vote.

Cambridge Analytica Case

In March 2018, whistleblower Christopher Wylie publicly revealed that an organization referred to as Cambridge Analytica -- a London-based electioneering agency -- exfiltrated the non-public information of greater than 70 million Fb customers in the US in order to influence the outcomes of the 2016 United States presidential election. 

This knowledge trove included Fb customers’ ages, interests, pages they've favored, groups they belong to, physical places, political affiliation, spiritual affiliation, relationships, and pictures, in addition to their full names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses.

The private information of the more than 70 million US Fb customers that Cambridge Analytica used to govern the election accounted for more than half the overall votes throughout 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 assortment, which in keeping with AG Racine, only demonstrates that what they are saying publicly is a part of an intentional plan to masks the devastating consequences of their actions.

The Allegations

Specializing in the Cambridge Analytica case, the criticism accused Fb of actively encouraging companies like Cambridge Analytica to use the platform to influence and manipulate consumer behaviour.

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

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Last Up to date Could 23, 2022, 7:51 PM IST