Mark Zuckerberg agreed to settle a multi-billion dollar lawsuit with a group of shareholders to see how senior Meta executives and directors handle Facebook’s repeated privacy violations.
Shareholders are seeking $8 billion (£6 billion) in losses. It is not clear how much they agree to satisfy.
The shareholders’ attorneys announced a settlement Thursday before the trial was about to enter the second day in the Delaware court. Mehta declined to comment on the solution.
Mon shareholders claim Mr Zuckerberg’s actions led to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which a political consulting firm leaked and used data from millions of Facebook users.
Shareholders have asked the judge to order the 11 defendants nominated in the case to repay more than $8 billion in fines and legal fees, saying the company must pay to resolve claims for user privacy loopholes.
Shareholders also questioned the timing of the company’s top brass stock sales.
Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is the parent company of social media platforms, as well as photo sharing app Instagram and messaging app WhatsApp.
The shareholder lawsuit was filed in 2018 after revealing data from millions of Facebook users, accessed by Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm that works during President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign.
Among the defendants is Jeffrey Zients, who has been the Messenger Director for two years since May 2018 and is also the White House Chief of Staff for former President Joe Biden.
Zients acknowledged in Wednesday’s testimony that a $5 billion Federal Trade Commission fine was huge, but said the company did not agree to the payment to protect Mr. Zuckerberg from legal liability.
Other defendants include Peter Thiel, co-founder of Palantir Technologies, and Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix.
The solution allows the defendant to avoid testifying under oath.
Former COO Sheryl Sandberg also plans to testify.
“One thing could come up in a full trial, and it’s a complete consideration about how Facebook adopts and approves any illegal practices,” said Ann Lipton, a law professor at the University of Colorado.
“For society, it is valuable to know how this happens, if they violate the law, the issue of their violation of the law is valuable,” Lipton added. “This kind of exposure is a valuable social purpose. We will not understand this accounting right now.”
Meta is not a direct party to the lawsuit, but says it has invested billions of dollars in privacy reforms since 2019.
Prior to the settlement, Delaware Judge Kathalen McCormick will hear testimony by next week before making a decision.
Last year, Ms. McCormick attracted the anger of Tesla boss Elon Musk after rejecting his $56 billion compensation package.
The electric car maker has left Delaware and rejoined in Texas.
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